


QWAR - a RWBY Roleswap AU

by tattletale_writers



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Age Changes, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Evil Blake Belladonna, Evil Jaune Arc, Evil Lie Ren, Evil Nora Valkyrie, Evil Pyrrha Nikos, F/F, F/M, Good Adam Taurus, Good Cinder Fall, Good Emerald Sustrai, Good Mercury Black, Good Raven Branwen, Good Roman Torchwick, Good Salem, M/M, Past Blake Belladonna/Adam Taurus, RWBY roleswap, Retelling, Role Swap, Roleswap, everything is weird
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:02:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22237549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tattletale_writers/pseuds/tattletale_writers
Summary: Qrow Rose is a 15-year-old huntsman in training, who, after foiling a robbery attempt, is advanced two years to attend Beacon Academy. He eventually joins with his older sister, Raven, the Heiress to the Schnee dust company, Winter, and a former White Fang member on the run from his past, Adam, to form team QWAR (Quartz). Along with their friends in team RMCE, they represent the brightest stars of the first-year students at Beacon academy.Everything is different in this alternate universe Remnant, yet familiar. As the headmistress of Beacon, Salem, raises the next generation of Huntsmen to challenge Ozma and defeat his Grimm army, and perhaps one day defeat Ozma himself.
Relationships: Cinder Fall/Emerald Sustrai, Qrow Branwen/Winter Schnee, Raven Branwen & Adam Taurus
Comments: 63
Kudos: 86





	1. Chapter 1: Qrow Rose

“Aunt Ruby?” Qrow Rose started, speaking into his scroll as he rounded the corner in downtown Vale.

“Oh, hey, what’s up, Qrow?” Ruby responded, the noise in the background of the call was faint, but Qrow could pick up on music, people talking, and the sound of glasses clattering. A bar? Ruby didn’t drink. Maybe just a restaurant then? Was he bugging her during dinner?

“I was just checking in. I know you were on a job.” Qrow sighed, Ruby was always working, either for Signal or Huntress work. “But we’re having Raven’s going away party tomorrow, and I just wanted to make sure you’d be there.”

“Yeah, I promise. I’m just finishing up one last piece of business right now. I’ll be over in the morning.”

“Awesome, then everything should be great!”

“Did you plan this all yourself?”

“Had to.” Qrow’s grimace was audible. “You and dad have both been so busy, and besides, for all the shit I give her, I am proud of her. I’m actually getting a present for her right now.”

“I’m proud of her too, and proud of you for taking the initiative. Oh, and if I was your dad, I’d tell you to watch your language.”

“But you aren’t my dad.”

“Last I checked, no,” Ruby smirked. “What are you getting her?”

“Only thing I know for a fact she’ll want, dust.”

“I might sound hypocritical saying this, but you two are allowed to have interests outside of weapons.”

“I know, but she’s gonna need it at Beacon anyway, right?”

“I guess she is.” Ruby glanced to her right as a waitress made her way up the stairs. “Qrow, I have to go okay? I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Oh, yeah, okay. See you then, love you.”

“Love you too.” Ruby hung her scroll up just as the waitress arrived at the table.

“Strawberry sunrise?” The waitress asked. Ruby took it with a small thank you, before sliding it to the vacant side of the table opposite her. Ruby desperately needed some form of comfort, but alcohol wasn’t her vice of choice. She tried, somewhat in vain, to get her thoughts in order. Her brain was elsewhere, two hours ago she had been locked in combat with an entire pack of Beowulfs, but if she didn’t do this now she’d lose her chance until gods know when.

It didn’t take long for Ruby to realize she was out of time, two men, dressed in worn down clothes, weapons displayed proudly, appeared on the second floor of the bar, but they mattered little to Ruby, what was more interesting was the woman they flanked. She was nearly six feet tall, dressed head to toe in a billowing black hooded robe, black armor covering her chest, back, and knees. The only hint of anything not black on her body was her wrists, covered by gold bracers, reflecting every light in the building. Her face was mostly concealed by the hood of the robe, but what was visible was covered by a white mask, similar to the skull of a Grimm, though not as obvious a parallel as a member of the White Fang might make. Gold lines ran through and around the mask. The woman approached Ruby’s table, sitting opposite her without a word.

“Leave us.” The order came from the masked woman, her voice was distorted, deep, affected by some sort of voice modulator in her mask. Her goons nodded to each other before leaving the way they came.

“Yang…” Ruby started, her eyes narrowing at her masked sister.

“Ruby,” The modulated voice replied. “You look like shit.”

Yang was right, Ruby still wore the signs of battle. Her dress, black with red accents, was torn in multiple places, and her tights were possibly in worse shape. Her hair, black fading to red, was matted with sweat, and her deep red eyes had dark bags under them. Ruby was tired, but she was here and that’s the only thing that really mattered.

“Yeah, well, some of us still care abou-” Ruby started.

“You have until I finish this to say what you will, I’d choose your topic carefully.” Yang cut her off, taking off the mask and picking up the drink in front of her. Yang briefly let her cascading blonde locks and piercing red eyes show to the rest of patrons of the bar, before pulling the hood back up.

“Raven’s leaving for Beacon soon.” Ruby sighed, cocking her head slightly.

“Is she?”

“Yeah, she crushed the entrance exam.”

“Of course she did.”

“They’re, uh… we’re having a party for her tomorrow. I think it would mean a lot if you would be there.”

“Yeah, it probably would.” Yang rolled her eyes. “If that’s what you’ve come all this way to say, you should have saved us both the trouble.”

“What happened to you, Yang?”

“What happened to me? I’m the one who didn’t change, I stayed loyal. What happened to you, traitor?”

Traitor. The word made Ruby’s blood boil, that the woman who left her husband, her friends, her sister behind, the woman who left her daughter behind, to return to the life of a crusading bandit would call her a traitor, it was all she could do to remain cordial.

“I stayed loyal too.” Ruby choked out through gritted teeth.

“I guess we have different definitions of loyalty, then.”

“I guess we do. She wants to see you, you know? She asks about you still, you don’t care even a little?”

“Ruby,” Yang sighed, setting the now empty glass down. “Your ‘take parental responsibility’ speech has gotten much better than your ‘do the mad witch’s bidding’ speech’ but they both need work.”

“Summer was the one who could do words, but I’m trying, I’m making an effort, I’d appreciate if you’d do the same.”

“Sis, if you wanted to return to our tribe I would welcome you with open arms, you know that. If Raven wanted to, I would have no problem, but if she won’t make that effort, or isn’t allowed to, your issue is more with her or Tai.”

“I’m not letting my niece become a bandit.” Ruby growled.

“So you and Tai are controlling her, withholding information, giving her an illusion of choice, and you wonder why I have issues with the Witch and her associates.”

“That isn’t what we’re…” Ruby started. No, she reminded herself, don’t let Yang get under your skin, it’s what she wants. “Look, I still think there’s good in you, a part of you that cares for her, that wants to be a good mother.”

“Of course you do. You’d try to tame and redeem a Grimm if you had the time. I don’t even see what your concern is, she seems to be doing fine without me.”

“She is, but she still, for whatever reason, wants you to be a part of her life. I want to make that happen, I really think it would be good for both of you.”

“Sorry, Rubes.” Yang stood up, sliding her mask back on. “Not everything can end like a fairytale. I’ll see you around, sis.”

Ruby sighed, she hated having to go this way, but Yang wasn’t exactly giving her a choice.

“Are you afraid? Afraid that Summer was a better mom to her than you’d ever be? Even, afraid that I’ve been more of a mom to her than you have? There’s still time, she’s seventeen, but she still wants to know you. Give it three years, let her grow a little more, and I can’t guarantee that’s going to be the case. If I were you, I’d stop worrying about how you measure up and at least try while you can.”

“Don’t.” Yang stopped, flicking her wrist to flare her gauntlets out, the threat clear. “Don’t presume to know me, you gave that up when you left our tribe.”

“You still care. I know you do.” Ruby could see Yang’s eyes behind her mask, practically glowing from her rage. “You’re angry that I’m right, at least a little bit. That means some part of you wants to be a good mom."

“I’m angry for a lot of reasons, but that isn’t one of them. Next time you meet with me, try to make it for something important.”

Yang whistled for her henchmen as she walked towards the exit, Ruby just sighed and let her leave. That hadn’t gone as badly as she thought, but it hadn’t gone exactly well either. This was just the most recent of many conversations they’ve had about Raven, Ruby wasn’t sure if Yang was more stubborn for refusing to admit she cared, or if she was more stubborn for not giving up on her fraternal twin.

Ruby grumbled, a room key dangling from her belt. This place wasn’t exactly luxurious, but she could get a bed and a warm shower, and that was enough. After the stress of her fight with the Grimm and her conversation with her sister, she finally let her shoulders slump, ready to relax as she headed to her rented room in the back of the inn and bar.

Ruby had barely laid down for five seconds when her scroll started ringing, she checked the caller ID. The name was familiar, an associate for sure, a friend on good days, but not someone who made social calls. She grimaced slightly as she pressed the button to answer the call.

“Glynda?” Ruby asked into the phone, the voice on the other line was a mix of anger and concern. Ruby’s eyes went wide at what she was being told.

“He did what?”

\---

Qrow stood by the magazine rack in the back of the From Dust Till Dawn dust shop, idly thumbing through a few things. He was, to put it mildly, impatient. As excited for his older sister as he was, two more years at Signal didn’t excite him the way his first years did. He knew he was only fifteen, but he was every bit the competent and qualified fighter that his sister was. He’d hope that he’d be noticed for his skill and maybe even moved ahead, catch a lucky break, but when had that ever happened to him?

Qrow pulled headphones from around his neck back up over his ears, his call with his Aunt was over and he wanted to listen to something more interesting than the idle elevator music of the shop. As he started playing his music, the door to the dust shop creaked open.

A man in his mid-twenties with shaggy blonde hair and blue eyes walked into the shop, flanked by four men in black suits. The man wore grey-ish white armor that covered his entire torso, beneath that he wore jeans and sneakers. He had a sword and shield on his back. He was something of an unassuming man, but anyone looking closely enough would recognize him as a notorious wanted criminal. The man tucked what looked to be notecards back into a pouch on his belt, taking a deep breath before firmly placing a hand on the front counter.

“Good, uh… Good evening.” The man started, nodding to one of the henchmen in suits. The goon raised his pistol and pointed it at the shopkeep, an elderly man.

“Please just take my lien and leave.” The shopkeep responded, prompting the armored man to raise a hand.

“Don’t make this harder than it has to be, okay? We don’t want to hurt you, we don’t want to destroy your store, we don’t even want your money. We’ll just be taking your dust.”

As if on cue, all four of the men in suits sprung into action. Three of them going to the tubes of unrefined dust along the far wall and filling small cylinders, while the fourth began shaking the shopkeep down for dust crystals. One of the men filling the dust tubes couldn’t help but notice something off, music. It was faint, but it was audible, heavy guitar clashing against the stores’ own music. His head shot up, trying to detect the source before his eyes settled on the only other customer, a boy in the back of the store, seemingly minding his own business. Taking hostages hadn’t been part of the plan, but they were willing to do what they had to.

“Alright kid.” The thug started, pulling a machete from its sheath and raising it at the boys back. “Put your hands where I can see ‘em.”

It was at this point that he remembered the music and noticed the headphones clamped over the boy's ears, the thug grimaced and rolled his eyes as he walked up to the boy, pushing his shoulder gently. The boy, Qrow, shot a look back towards him, prompting the thug to signal for him to take the headphones off.

“Yeah?” Qrow asked, lifting one headphone off his ear, eyeing the machete carefully.

“I said, put your hands in the air!”

“Uh… are you robbing me?”

“Yes!”

“Yeah, that seems about right.” Qrow sighed.

The next noise anyone heard was the sound of a person being thrown from one end of the shop to the other. Slamming into the far wall with force. One of the thugs shot a brief glance to the ringleader, who stared blankly for a few moments in return. Panic started to grip the blonde man’s mind, this wasn’t supposed to be going so wrong, there shouldn’t have been any huntsmen or even police poking around here before they were long gone. She said that she wou-. The man caught himself, remembering that he is, technically, in charge of this operation and pointing for the thug to go investigate whatever threw his co-worker that far.

It didn’t take long to uncover the source, but before anyone could react, the teenager threw the second thug out of the front window of the shop, following outside with him. The boy turned back to glance inside the shop again as his weapon, Harbinger, started to unfurl itself. The gears within the weapon whirring as it transformed from its dormant form, metal plates tucked around the handguards of the weapon, into its scythe form. The scythe was tall, taller than Qrow himself even, the handle a mix of red and black, skinny. While the blade was long, curved, and sharp, but segmented in multiple places. Qrow locked eyes with the blonde man in armor for a moment, as they both were hit with a realization.

Qrow, for his part, recognized the man as a wanted criminal. His father and aunt being in the line of work they are made Qrow and his sister acutely aware of most of the “big names” as far as illicit activity went. The man was Jaune Arc, a criminal mastermind whose motives and associates are as of yet unknown. Okay, maybe mastermind was a stretch, Ruby seemed to think the man was a buffoon, but there was certainly a reason Arc was still alive and a free man.

Jaune looked at the teenager in front of him, the weapon, while impressive, was not what stuck out most, nor did the crooked rose necklace hanging around his neck. No, what drew Jaune’s attention was the boy's eyes, they were a light and resplendent shade of silver. Not grey, not off-white, clear silver. Jaune had heard things, via one of his benefactors, about each individual eyeball of a silver-eyed person being enough to fetch a significant price, enough to retire on. Jaune had done some unsavory things in the past, but blinding and maybe murdering a fifteen-year-old certainly gave him pause.

“Sir?” one of the thugs asked.

“Ri-right.” Jaune started. “Get him!”

The three remaining thugs, one of whom was still recovering from being thrown across the room, all scrambled out the destroyed window. One thug slipped as he did, his head hitting the pavement hard, knocking him out within an instant. Qrow smirked, his semblance, burden as it was, at least was helping him out there. Qrow raised his scythe as the two men charged him, given how easily the first two had gone down, Qrow knew these guys hadn’t activated their aura at all, so that meant fighting with the flat of his weapon. It was an unfortunate restriction but better than killing someone.

The first man swung a machete at Qrow, who jumped over it, planting Harbinger in the ground briefly. He launched himself over the head of the first man, landing at a decent speed. What he had been planning to do was land behind him and kick him in the back of the head before he could react. Unfortunately, his knee buckled on the landing. Qrow grimaced, but did his best to think fast, turning and throwing the flat end of Harbinger into the back of the man's head. He slumped over just as the last thug unleashed a barrage of gunfire at Qrow.

He was quick enough to dodge it, he didn’t have his Aunt’s speed, but she had taught him a thing or two. He charged for the thug, using as much natural cover as the area allowed him. Getting too close to the gunman was a bad idea, but no gun can fire forever. Qrow pulled on another trigger on his scythe, the gears start to whir again at the weapon pulled back, two barrels prominently displaying themselves as the blade of the weapon slid down, transforming into its shotgun form.

Qrow smirked as he heard the gunfire stop, hoping that meant the man was reloading. He only had a few seconds to put his plan into action. If he fucked this up, Raven wasn’t going to let him live this down for a second. He raised his gun from behind the cover, firing a few feet in front of the man, creating a massive pothole and a loud bang that echoed through the streets. The thug jumped back, the magazine he was loading into the gun slipping from his hand in a mix of shock and misfortune. Qrow wasted no time.

He charged for the man, who had bent down to pick up the magazine. By the time the thug glanced up, all he saw was a ring-covered hand about to collide with his face, followed by the darkness of unconsciousness.

Qrow glanced around, looking for Jaune. He was no longer in the dust shop, the clerk was standing by the doorway, his brow furrowed as he glanced up to a nearby rooftop. Qrow followed the man’s eyes to see Jaune finishing his climb of the fire escape up to the rooftop.

“Coward!” Qrow growled, pressing his shotgun against the pavement again. He pulled the trigger, using the force of the blast along with his own athleticism to lift himself up to the fire escape. The metal of it started to groan, which made Qrow’s eyes grow wide.

“Not now, not now!” Qrow begged, climbing the fire escape as quickly as he could, arriving at the top of it just as Jaune was at the opposite end of the roof.

“Stop!” He ordered, pointing Harbinger towards the criminal, the sound of a collapsing fire escaping making both of them flinch.

“You don’t quit, do you?” Jaune asked, pulling the sword from his back. “Any time now.” he muttered, seemingly to nobody in particular.

Before either of them could move to engage, a large aircraft appeared from behind the building, a large door on the side popping open. The engines of the craft flooding the rooftop with air and noise. Before Qrow could identify whether the craft was friend or foe, his opponent clarified that for him.

“That’s my ride,” Jaune yelled over the roar of the engine. “Sorry, kid!”

Jaune jumped up and into the open door, the slight jerking of the plane making him grimace. The criminal gave one last look at the teenager before sighing, regret seeming to hang in his eyes for just a fraction of a second. Jaune surrounded himself very briefly in a pale yellow light, the red dust crystal in his hand starting to hum and glow as the light made contact. Qrow stepped back to the edge of the roof as Jaune threw the suddenly awakened crystal towards him. Qrow prepared to jump, the fall was easily preferable to the explosion.

This was the reality of being a huntsman, Qrow figured to himself. Risking your life, being willing to die to help the innocent. It was what his dad, mom, and aunt all did. What he and his sister were training to do. Would a real huntsman put his own safety first? When his target was right in front of him? Would his dad do that? Would Ruby do that? Qrow groaned, this was going to hurt. Harbinger began transforming again, becoming a wide, segmented sword. He raised it in front of himself, fighting his eyes not to shut and bracing himself as the crystal exploded.

The burning painful sensation he was expecting didn’t come as a bright purple flash enveloped the crystal throwing it into the sky where it detonated harmlessly. A woman now stood in front of Qrow, she was dressed in a white blouse, a purple cape, and a high-waisted black pencil skirt. Her light blonde hair was tied back in a bun, small round glasses sitting on the bridge of her nose and a black riding crop was gripped firmly in her right hand. She pointed it at the aircraft, locking eyes with Jaune Arc. He steadied himself, glaring at the woman. If Qrow had to guess, he would say the look in Jaune’s eyes was bordering on hatred.

The woman, Qrow recognized her as Glynda Goodwitch, an administrator at Beacon academy and an associate of his dad and aunt. He had met her a handful of times, but never in circumstances like this. Glynda flicked her wrist as a barrage of purple light shot from it and struck the hovering craft at multiple different angles, pushing and jerking it violently.

Jaune covered his mouth, gagging and desperately grabbing for anything to steady himself, nearly dropping his sword in the process.

“Nope, I can’t…” Jaune trailed, gagging again, looking towards the cockpit of the craft, calling out to the pilot. “Huntress!”

The woman in the cockpit, only visible to the two onlookers on the roof as a shadowy figure wearing black and gold boots, took Jaune’s place by the open door of the aircraft, as Jaune struggled frantically to get to the pilots' seat. The woman, keeping herself wreathed in shadow, extended her hand as a shaky black outline started to surround the metal shingles of the roof and the ventilation shaft. All of the metal began to fly towards Glynda, Qrow hadn’t noticed until he felt himself being jerked forward, but the metal of Harbinger was being affected too, disarming him.

Glynda watched as the wave of metal was about to impact her, her face stoic and unflinching. She briefly raised her riding crop as more purple light warped around her, catching all of the metal around her, repurposing it into a massive spear and throwing it towards the craft. The metal started to whine as black light clashed with purple, a war of their semblances occurring midway between the craft and the rooftop.

“Jaune.” The woman said, it was an order. Jaune, still regaining his composure, extended a hand back towards his accomplice, the same yellow light surrounding his body, and eventually hers. The woman smirked, leaving her right hand extended towards the makeshift spear and slowly raising her left.

Qrow heard a rumbling beneath their feet, he tilted his head slightly, trying to listen as best he could over the roar of the engines. He glanced over at Glynda, still focused on the battle in the sky.

“What is tha-” He started, cut off by Glynda’s gasp. Qrow felt himself being pulled forward, the same purple light surrounding his body. Glynda rolled forward herself, kneeling next to him. He was confused initially and then embarrassed as he saw that spot where he was standing be ripped through by a metal desk. Great, he had to have his ass saved on his first night of solo huntsman work. That basically eliminated all hope in his mind that the veteran huntress would be impressed. More holes began to appear in the roof of the building as desks, chairs, and even a water heater were pulled through from below, all surrounded by the black light of the mysterious woman’s semblance. Who was she? How strong was her semblance?

Qrow heard the roaring engine grow more distant as shreds of metal began to rain down from the sky. He was only able to catch a brief glance of the aircraft disappearing into the night as Harbinger, thankfully still intact, landed a few feet from him. He picked it up and started to brush himself off, exhaling as he glanced towards Glynda. That could have gone better, but it could have gone a lot worse.

"Woah, a real Huntress in action!" Qrow started, Glynda returned only a stern look. Qrow glanced at the carnage around him, the massive property damage to the store, the street, and the building as he exhaled, tucking a hand behind his head. It wasn’t all his fault, not even mostly his fault, but the massive potholes and collapsed fire escape stuck in his mind.

"I uh… I'm in trouble, huh?"

\---

“I hope you realize that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly, young man.” Glynda started, pacing around the interrogation room of the Vale police station. Qrow sighed, drumming his fingers on the table and grimacing slightly. “You put yourself and others in great danger.”

“They started it,” Qrow mumbled under his breath, it wasn’t much of a defense, but it was true.

“Not to mention the reckless property damage, do you know how much fixing all that is going to cost? I don’t suppose you have Huntsman insurance.”

“I…” Qrow started, she was right, but surely he wasn’t supposed to just stand there and do nothing. “My dad and aunt ar-”

“I’m well aware of who they are, Qrow. Rest assured I’ve already spoken to both of them and your aunt is covering the cost, but if she wasn’t who she was, you’d be on the hook for those expenses.”

“Great, then why am I still he-”

“You’re still here because I want to ensure you understand the gravity of your actions. If I hadn’t been ther-”

“If you hadn’t been there, we can’t know what would have happened.” It was Qrow’s turn to cut her off. Glynda shot him a look, the message was clearer than any words could be, don’t try it. “Right, yeah. I understand, can I go now?”

“If it were up to me, yes. You’d be sent home with a slap on the wrist!” Glynda snapped her riding crop on the table, making Qrow jump. “And a pat on the back.” her posture softened.

“Good to know you’re at least taking what your aunt teaches you to heart.” Glynda relented, not smiling, but not longer scowling at the boy. “As I was saying, there’s someone here who would like to meet you.”

Qrow’s breath caught in his throat as the new woman entered the room. She was tall and thin with clear blue eyes and long, greying, blond hair. Dressed in a flowing white dress with a small blue pendant. Her face was warm and friendly, but the bags beneath her eyes, and the sadness hidden behind them, showed her age more than a few grey hairs ever could.

“Qrow Rose,” the woman began, staring intently at the boy, “You have silver eyes.”

“Uh… thank you?” Qrow stammered, prompting the woman to smile.

“So, tell me, where did you learn to do this?” She asked, indicating to the tablet Glynda was holding, replaying his fight with the thugs from the dust shop.

“Signal academy…”

“They taught you to build and use one of the most complicated weapons ever designed?”

“Well, one teacher in particular. My aunt, Ruby Branwen, she’s a teacher at Signal, She taught me most of what I know.”

“Yes.” the woman smiled again. “You could say I’m familiar with her.”

“I… yeah, she went to Beacon. Of course, you would know her…”

“So tell me, why are you training to be a huntsman? Carrying on the family name? Your mother, father, aunt, sister, just following in their footsteps? Wrapped up in childhood tales of slaying monsters?”

“No, I… that’s not it. I mean, maybe that’s a part of it, but it’s more than that. I want to help people. Yeah I could do that in the police or some other field, but being a huntsman is cool, so yeah. I guess that is part of it. I have two more years at Signal, and then I was gonna apply to Beacon.”

“So you know who I am.”

“I’m that transparent? Yeah, you’re Professor Salem, the Headmistress of Beacon Academy.”

“Well then, it’s nice to meet you properly. I’ve heard a lot about you.” Salem smiled, extending a hand, Qrow took it and gladly shook.

“Same here.”

“You want to come to my school?”

“Yeah, I mean, it’s been my dream since I was a kid.”

“Well,” Salem started, glancing towards Glynda, who shook her head. “Okay then.”

“I…” it took Qrow a second to register what Salem said. “Wait, do you mean-?”

Salem smiled.

\---

“I can’t believe they really let you in two years early.” Raven Xiao Long said, shaking her head and smirking, standing on the transport airship to Beacon Academy. Raven had long wavy black hair down to her mid-back and piercing red eyes, she was a few inches taller than her younger brother. She was dressed in a red top, the upper torso of which was solid black, a black skirt, and knee-high black boots. Her sword, Omen, was tucked in its sheath off her left hip.

“You and me both. Who’d have thought?” Qrow replied, rolling his eyes at his sister.

“Seriously though, I’m proud of you. It’s a big accomplishment.”

“Uncharacteristically sweet. Thank you, Rae.”

“Mhm. Just don’t tell too many people how old you are. They might look at you like you’re some sort of prodigy.”

“Gods, that’s all I need, huh?” Qrow sighed.

“Don’t worry little bro, it would take some pretty bad luck for people to find out without you telling them.” Raven smirked, Qrow sighed.

“I hate you sometimes, you know that, right?”

“I’m joking, Qrow. It’s going to be fine. You should be excited.”

“Oh, I am excited. Just uh, I got moved ahead two years. I’m not exactly looking for more attention than that already gives me.”

“Me too. I’m sure we’ll b-”

“The robbery was lead by notorious criminal, Jaune Arc, who continues to evade authorities. If you have any information on his whereabouts, please contact the Vale police department, back to you, Lisa.” A news anchor announced as a mugshot of Arc showed on the holographic screen, in front of the siblings. Qrow grimaced, he was this close to apprehending him, he should have been in custody. Raven nudged him.

“In other news, this Saturday's Faunus civil rights protest turned dark, when members of the white fang disrupted the ceremony.” The logo of the White Fang displayed itself next to the anchor, a red Beowulf head with three purple claw marks behind it. The broadcast was cut short before she could continue.

“Hello, and welcome to Beacon. My name is Glynda Goodwitch.” Glynda’s image replaced the news report as all the students gave their full attention. Glynda continued her introductory address, well-rehearsed, but Qrow and Raven couldn’t shake the impression that it was made years ago. The address ended as the airship began to rise, high above the Vale skyline, most students rushing to the window to catch a glimpse. Qrow and Raven among them.

“You know, with dad in Patch and you at Beacon, I might never need to take an airship like this again.” Raven said, patting the side of her sheath and smirking, Qrow rolled his eyes.

“Hello there.” A sing-song voice cut in, nearly cooing. A red-haired boy stepped up to the siblings, dressed in a white suit coat, dark trousers, and a black bowler hat. The boy smirked and extended a hand.

“And what, if I may have the pleasure, is your name?” The boy continued, wrapping his arm around Raven. Qrow snorted under his breath, leaning against the wall of the airship, this would be good.

“Raven.” She mumbled a curt response, seeming to take her father’s warning about making enemies at Beacon to heart, at least to a degree

“Do you have a last name, Raven?”

“Xiao Long.”

“I see, well that’s a lovely name, Raven. My name is Roman Torchwick.”

“Good for you.”

“Anyway,” Roman continued, his smirk growing wider. “I know how overwhelming this process can be, starting at a school like Beacon. A very good friend of mine is a 2nd-year and I visited her quite a lot last year. I have something of a wealth of knowledge on Beacon compared to most students in our year, so feel free to come to me for directions or with any questions, I’d be more than happy to help. Especially someone as pretty as you.”

Raven grimaced, a deep exhale leaving her mouth, not making enemies was going to be harder than she thought. She gave a quick glance to her brother before the grimace turned into a smirk, her piercing red eyes narrowing.

“I do have a question actually.” She started, both Qrow and Roman raised their eyebrows.

“Yes, anything.” Roman replied.

“Did you intend to leave this airship with both of your arms attached?”

“I…” Roman stammered “Yes, that is generally the goal.”

“Then I highly suggest you stop touching me this instant.”

“Message received.” Roman said, raising his hands in the air and stepping back.

“Nice one, hotshot.” Qrow taunted, smirking himself now. Roman tipped his hat and walked on, away from the siblings.

“Thanks for the help.” Raven shot to Qrow who just smirked.

“Hey, you had him,” Qrow replied, stepping next to his sister. “Besides, who am I to stand in the way of young romance?”

“Qrow!” Raven scoffed slugging him playfully on the shoulder. “You remember what I said about being proud of you for making it into Beacon?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, that guy also got in. Now I’m not so sure I’m quite as proud.”

“Fair.” Qrow scoffed. “Anyway, it’s certainly shaping up to be an interesting four years.”

“That it is.” Raven said as the airship approached the landing dock of Beacon academy. The tower of Beacon finally came into clear view out of the windows of the ship and it made both siblings, as well as most of the students on the airship, do a double-take. Most of the buildings were impressive, the academic buildings, dorms, and even the campus itself were more impressive than anything most of these students had ever seen, but all of it was dwarfed by the majesty of the large marble tower at the end of campus, blue lights flashing around it. The students were shaken out of their daze as a small ding echoed throughout the ship, snapping their attention the onboard announcement as an automated voice began to speak.

“Now arriving at Beacon Academy.”


	2. The Shining Beacon Part 1

“You, cat!” The supervisor started, the blunt nightstick in his hand raised slightly as he walked towards the young faunus girl kneeling on the mine floor. “Get back to work.”

“Please…” She choked out, her voice hoarse and her eyes stained with tears. “Just some water?”

“Worthless.” The supervisor mumbled under his breath. “You can have water on your breaks, same as everyone else.”

“Please, I’m so tired…”

“And you can sleep on your own time, but you’re working right now.” The supervisor placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing tightly. “Back to it.”

The faunus climbed to her feet, somehow finding a reserve of strength she didn’t know she had. She took a quick glance around her surroundings, things looked as bleak as they had the rest of the two weeks she had been here. Other faunus were working in the mine, some her age, some younger, a few older, but all of them looked tired, all of them looked hurt, all of them looked broken. The exit to the mine wasn’t as far as it seemed, but the distance seemed nearly infinite with the amount of energy and strength she had left in her body.

She was being starved, given only the bare minimum food and water she needed to function if you could call this functioning. She was hardly allowed to sleep, never allowed to socialize, and constantly belittled, demeaned, and verbally abused. She knew what they were doing, they were trying to break her. They probably did it to most “new workers” but to the daughter of the leader of the White Fang, they were making it their top priority. She would have done something drastic, turned one of the mining tools on her captors or even herself if it wasn’t for the hope she was still clinging to. The hope of rescue.

Her father had to be looking for her, right? He had to be coming. She just needed to hold out for a little longer. Do what she could to not get herself killed or die in an accident, just keep her head down and survive a little longer. Taking down a work camp wouldn’t be easy, but her father, her mother, Sienna, they could pull it off, and they would for her. She just needed to hold out a little longer.

She raised the mining tool by her feet, an ax-like object, it was almost unbearably heavy. Had it been this heavy when she had first picked it up? She couldn’t afford to be weak right now. She huffed a long breath out, raising the tool above her head. Her arms, however, did not cooperate, failing to raise themselves despite her pleading. The tool clattered to the ground by her, nearly the same place she had dropped it the first time. Before she could move to pick it up, she felt something blunt hit her in the back of the knee, dropping her back to the mine floor almost instantly.

“Stupid animal.” The supervisor scoffed, raising the nightstick again, the girl raised a hand to defend herself, useless as it would be.

“Stop!” A voice called out. It had come from the girl’s left, another worker, another prisoner, and he was quickly approaching her side.

“Mind your ow-”

“She’s had enough!” Her fellow prisoner interjected, standing between the supervisor and the girl. “I see how she’s been treated, you’re going to work her to death.”

“This doesn’t concern you. I’ll be lenient. Back to work now, or you’ll regret this.”

The girl could see the one who came to her aid, it was a young man, within a year or two of her age. He was muscular but had visible scars, both the effects of working in the mines long term. He was about half a foot taller than her with spiky red hair, black horns, and clear blue eyes. The eyes were still bright, somehow, it wasn’t something the girl was used to seeing among the other faunus in the camp, something she thought only she held onto, hope.

“She’s tired. She needs rest, water. You want an effective ‘workforce’? This isn’t how you accomplish that.” The bull faunus said, not budging an inch.

“Stubborn, fitting I guess.” the supervisor grunted, bringing his nightstick across the bull faunus’ jaw, causing him to grunt in pain. “Stand aside.”

“No.” He spat, blood pouring from the corner of his mouth. He glanced back at the cat faunus, sighing slightly as he shoved the supervisor. His eyes narrowed. The bull faunus winced as the nightstick rose, coming down again on top of the boys’ skull. His head rang as his legs quivered, knees buckling as he fell to the dirt.

A swift kick to the ribs dropped him to the floor of the mine, the nightstick striking him across the ribs a few more times. The bull faunus grunted, his breath labored, tears forming in his eyes. The girl behind him was cowering, but as far as he could tell, unharmed, so he tried to force a smile. Another kick, this time to the jaw, forced a pained groan. The young man coughed.

“I believe, bull,” the supervisor started, picking up a heated iron from a furnace of hot coals, twirling it in his hands, contemplating. “You need a reminder of your place.”

The supervisors left hand clamped around the young man’s collar, rolling him from his side to his back, a boot planted firmly on his chest as the iron turned again. The supervisor exhaled before smirking. Adam glanced at the iron, marked with the letters “SDC”, representing the Schnee Dust Company, he winced, letting out a sigh of resignation. He gripped the nearest object, a small rock, just to brace himself.

His scream echoed through the mine as the iron pressed down over his left eye. He gritted his teeth, trying to stifle the scream anyway he could. Screaming was weakness, he wasn’t weak, he couldn’t show that he was weak. He squeezed the rock in his hand, almost feeling like it might break from the pressure of his grip. Then glanced out of his other eye at the rock, it was pulsing red. For her part, the girl not far from him was watching as his hair was beginning to glow in much the same way. As the brand continued to press down hard, the young man slammed the rock against the mine wall.

The next thing anyone saw was a bright flash of red light, surrounded back a black outline. The source of the light was the rock in the young man’s hand. The wall of the mine started to tremble as the force of his semblance rocked through it. The supervisor dropped the brand, his face turning white as the rock wall shook. If that blast hit any of the dust, everyone in this mine was as good as dead.

A few agonizing moments later, the shaking calmed. The supervisor, the girl, and every other worker and supervisor that heard the shaking let out a sigh of relief, all except the bull faunus, too lost in his pain to focus. The supervisor, face still white and teeth still gritted, glanced at the writhing faunus next to him. Quickly mumbling a few words about getting someone else. This wasn’t over for the young man, far from it.

The cat faunus crawled over to the young man who had come to her rescue, pulling his head into her lap, propping it up gently. He was in bad shape, blood still dripping from his mouth, she had heard enough cracking from the beating to piece together he had at least a few broken ribs, but the worst of it was the brand. It was red, angry, still radiating heat. The letter “SDC” had covered his left eye almost entirely. The eye was totally swollen shut. The cat faunus began to cry, tears streaming down onto the young man, shaking him from his pain-induced haze.

“Hey” he choked out. The girl didn’t answer through tears.

“Hey, it’s… it’s okay.” He continued.

“You did this… for me. Shouldn’t have…” The girl responded.

“Shh… what’s your name?”

“I’m Blake…”

“Adam.”

“Why…” Blake started, cutting herself off with her tears.

“You looked like you needed help. I could take it more than you could…”

“But you didn’t have to… It’s not fair.”

“None of it is fair.” Adam looked down. “Nothing is fair here, but we do what we can.”

“You don’t know me…”

“I don’t have to. You’re a person, you needed help. If we don’t stick up for each other, who will, right?”

“I… yeah. I’m going to make this up to you, Adam. I promise.”

“I’m sure you will. We’ll have plenty of time for that.”

Blake glanced up as Adam’s body started to drift into unconsciousness. She saw the supervisor from before, he was walking towards Adam and herself, accompanied by another man, dressed similarly and holding a gun. Blake’s eyes narrowed, a new feeling was starting to flower in her. For so long, she had clung to hope, or been assaulted by fear. She forgot what feeling anything else was truly like, until she looked at those two men. Accomplices in her captivity, her torture, her rescuer’s beating, and branding. Blake felt this new emotion bubbling in her chest and she held tight to it.

Hatred.

\---

The airship pulled itself up to the docking bay as a platform extended from the doors to the ground of Beacon academy. As the doors slid open, students started to push and rush to be the first off the ship. One of the first was the red-haired boy, Roman Torchwick, who immediately rushed towards a girl with black and pink two-tone hair. She smiled upon seeing him, leaning on what looked to be an umbrella.

“Neo!” Roman started, rushing up to his friend. She waved.

“Told you I’d get in too!” He continued, prompting the second-year student to roll her eyes, before beckoning for him to follow her.

Qrow and Raven weren’t far behind, following the path most students took, the one that lead directly to Beacon tower. Seeing it from the airship was one thing, but being this close to it, seeing the magnificent marble tower not more than a hundred feet from them, it made them both pause at the majesty of it all.

“The pictures were one thing but damn…” Qrow trailed off.

“Kind of makes Signal look small by comparison, huh?” Raven asked, walking on and prompting her brother to follow.

“That’s an understatement, yeah. Hey, no welcome wagon?”

“Hm?”

“You know, our parents, Aunt Ruby, Team SRTY (Serenity), they’re kind of a big deal. I don’t want the fanfare, but I was kind of braced for it.”

“Like you said on the airship, keeping a low profile is better. Besides, your mom, dad, and aunt Ruby are celebrated, but my mom i-”

“Yeah, yeah. I know, but still, they were a big deal.”

“Yeah.” Raven scoffed. “But if we relied on our family name for special treatment, what would that make us?”

“I dunno, Schnees?”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Qrow found himself tripping and falling. It was, regrettably, not a new sensation, but being used to it meant he was able to brace for the fall properly, avoiding what would have been a humiliating faceplant, but still landing awkwardly on a stark white suitcase.

“Ow…” Qrow grunted, Raven’s smirk made him raise an eyebrow. “Something funny, Rae?”

“Yes, but not for the reason you think,” Raven said, stifling a laugh.

“Huh? What do yo-”

“What are you doing?!” A rough voice cut him off. It was high, but it wasn’t shrill, retaining a dignified edge behind the unbridled fury. Qrow glanced up, rolling off the suitcase, to see a girl who looked to be about Raven’s age, standing next to a luggage cart with similar suitcases. She was a few inches shorter than Qrow, but not exactly short. She wore small white shoes that looked freshly polished with an icy blue wedge heel, a white pleated skirt, a short-sleeved white button-down blouse, and a blue vest, with a crest, one that Qrow was able to easily identify as the Schnee crest, emblazoned on a patch on her right shoulder. The girl had extremely pale skin, icy blue eyes, and long white hair. The hair was tied back in a bun, a small fringe of bangs hanging over her right eye. Qrow knew of her, her family at least, but you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who didn’t.

“Shit.” Qrow grumbled. “Hey, I’m sorry. I was talking to my sister and I wasn’t watching were I wa-”

Qrow stopped himself, Raven was leaving.

“Uh, Raven?” he asked.

“Oh, sorry. I don’t believe we’ve met. Good luck with all that.” Raven called, raising a hand. Qrow sighed, he wasn’t sure if she was embarrassed to be related to him, wanted nothing to do with a Schnee, or some combination of the two. He didn’t really blame her if he was being honest.

“Thanks, sis…” He trailed off.

“You.” The Schnee girl started, prompting him to give her his attention again. “Do you have any idea of the damage you could have caused?”

“Uh…” Qrow trailed. “To your suitcase? Your clothes?”

“Not my clothes.” She huffed, grabbing the suitcase next to him with force. “This is dust! Mined and pur-”

“Of course it is.” Qrow groaned. “That would be the case I trip over…”

“If any of this is damaged…” The girl opened the case, pulling out and inspecting a vial of red powdered dust.

“You really don’t wanna do that while I’m here.”

“I don’t recall asking for your opinion.”

“No, it’s not that, it-”

“Cracked…” she held the vial in front of her, her hands shaking in anger as some of the dust began to lift into the air, carried by the wind.

“Hey, listen you-” Qrow wrinkled his nose. “Oh no…”

“This is your fault, I hope you intend to pay for the damage you ca-”

“Sorry!” Qrow cut her off, pulling the explosive vial from her hand and shoving her out of the way, flat on her back. Qrow threw the vial in the other direction, hoping not too much of it had already spilled in the air. He raised Harbinger, not enough time to switch modes, so he just guarded his face with the flat of the segmented blade as he sneezed.

The dust in the air, some of it having fallen to the ground, violently exploded with the sneeze, blowing a large crater in the courtyard. Harbinger was able to take most of the blast, the rest being absorbed by Qrow’s aura. Qrow exhaled, before grimacing as he heard the girl behind him get to her feet. This wasn’t something he was looking forward to.

“What do you think yo-” The girl started.

“I tried to warn you.” Qrow cut her off. “My semblance is misfortune, things like this just sort of happen when I’m around.”

“Your semblance is...? Who let you into a combat school! Not just a combat school, Beacon Academy, when you’re an active danger to yourself and others?”

“Hey, I know how to handle it most of the time. I was just caught off guard. It has its uses. Oh, and you’re welcome by the way.”

“For what?” The Schnee girl’s eyes widened. This boy felt she should be thanking him? The absolute nerve.

“Uh, getting you away from an explosion and then shielding you from it?”

“An explosion that you caused!”

“I said I tried to warn you!”

“And that makes it all better? The least you could do is offer to play for the dust you wasted!”

“Hey, I said I was sorry, Princess.”

“It’s heiress, actually.” A young man’s voice cut in. He came from their left, the vial of dust Qrow had thrown in his right hand. He was tall, taller than Raven, dressed in a similar aesthetic to her, Qrow realized. He wore large black boots, and pants in the same shade, a red button-down shirt, and a black jacket with an insignia, probably his emblem, on the back. He had a sword on his hip, contained in a pitch-black sheath. He had spiked red hair with dark black horns, a slightly pale complexion, and an eyepatch obscuring his left eye. He was a faunus, that was made clear immediately. Qrow smiled at the faunus boy as he held the vial out in his hand.

“Winter Schnee, heiress to the Schnee dust company. The largest, and as of last year, only producer of energy propellent in Atlas.” The faunus boy continued.

“Well, at least someone here understands wh-” Winter started, taking the dust vial from the faunus boy. He raised his hand slightly, making Winter pause.

“The same company infamous for multiple civil rights violations, including unsafe and inhumane working conditions that disproportionately affect their largely faunus workforce and exploiting legal loopholes to keep that workforce against their will.” The faunus boy folded his arms, exposed eye narrowing. Qrow couldn’t help but chuckle slightly as Winter sputtered, her eyes wide and teeth gritted.

“How dare yo-” Winter got into the faunus boys face, he didn’t flinch, standing firm with his chest out. Winter sighed, this wasn’t a battle she was going to win, and she wasn’t sure it was worth fighting in the first place. She huffed once again before turning on her heel, walking in the opposite direction that she had come from. Qrow smirked slightly, he couldn’t help but feel a little bad, he always did when his semblance affected someone else like that, but after her reaction, he was almost questioning if she had sort of deserved it.

“Hey, thanks for the help man. What’s your-” Qrow glanced back toward where the faunus had been standing, he was already more than a few paces away, his back turned, not acknowledging the gratitude one way or another.

“Yeah.” Qrow sighed, seeing the area around him well and truly abandoned except for himself and the fresh crater. “Don’t know what I was expecting.”

Qrow sat on the ground, leaning back and staring up at the sky. Beacon was, at least so far, nothing like Signal. At Signal he had friends, he had Aunt Ruby, he knew people, even on his worst days at Signal he knew he wouldn’t be totally alone. Maybe this was a mistake, maybe he shouldn’t have skipped two years, he wasn’t some prodigy, he was just Qrow… Why had Salem even offered him a place here? What was he missing?

Suddenly, a shadow shook Qrow out of his thoughts, someone was there, standing next to where he was laying. His eyes shot up at the shadow's owner, finding a girl. She looked to be a first-year too, dressed in a modest dark red long-sleeved dress, black heels, and a small anklet on her right ankle. She had long black hair, down to her mid-back, with eyes that transitioned from red to black the higher they got on the iris. She wasn’t looking at Qrow, not directly, her eyes seeming to be glued to the pavement beneath him.

“On your own too?” She asked.

“Yeah. I’m Qrow.”

“Cinder.”

\---

Qrow and Cinder walked by the crystal clear water fountain, both finding their eyes trace the path beneath their feet. The conversation had been nothing more than dry small talk, but for what it was worth, they were trying to make some form of connection.

“So,” Cinder started. “Why are you all alone, no friends from your old school?”

“Well, one.” Qrow scoffed. “My older sister is a first-year here too.”

“How does that work?”

Qrow sighed, so much for trying to keep this “prodigy” thing a secret.

“Ha.” Qrow flexed his fingers, stopping his pace for a second. “Yeah… I moved ahead a couple grades. Like to keep that secret.”

“How old are you?”

“Fifteen.”

“Well, you look… old for your age. Is that weird to say?”

“Don’t worry about it.” Qrow chuckled slightly. "I'll consider it a compliment."

“So… if your sister is here, what do you mean you’re alone? Why isn’t she with you?”

“Rae and I, we kind of do our own thing sometimes. We’re cool, but… she’s always been independent to a fault. Also, bad things tend to happen when I’m around, so hanging out with me can be sort of a burden.”

“I’m sure you’re not. You seem like such a nice guy.”

“Nice has nothing to do with it.” Qrow sighed. “It’s my semblance, misfortune.”

“That’s… um, unfortunate. I’m sorry. I… credit you for embracing it and becoming a huntsman.”

“Well… It’s kind of the family business, and besides, it has perks. I got this!” Qrow smirked, pulling Harbinger out from behind his cape and flipping it out into its scythe form. Qrow planted the blade in the stone of the path, realizing too late the damage it would do to the concrete. That was the second crater he had made, and orientation hadn’t even begun.

“It’s a scythe?” Cinder asked.

“Yeah! And a shotgun. And a sword.”

“It’s so-”

“Yeah, I went a little overboard. Runs in the family I guess.”

“Right.” Cinder grimaced. “You said huntsman work was the family business?”

“Yeah, mom was, dad still is, aunt is. Aunt Ruby, she’s the one who helped me design the weapon. Harbinger, I call it. Ruby’s is a scythe user too.”

“I see. Cool!”

“Yeah. Sorry, too much about me. What do your parents do?”

Cinder stopped in her tracks, her eyes trailing the ground off to her left. Her eyes started to water slightly. That was probably fitting, Qrow thought, the first question he asked would be a sore spot for someone.

“Hey.” Qrow started. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. I-”

“No. It’s fine, just…”

“Don’t worry about it. New topic?”

“Yes please.”

“So… what do you have?” Qrow indicated to Harbinger.

“Oh, uh, this.” Cinder pulled a small pouch from her belt, pulling the string on it. It looked like a small patch of black sand.

“Uh… pocket sand?”

“No, it’s a personal weapon. It works with my semblance, here.” Cinder grabbed a handful of the sand, throwing it into the air and raising her hand. A red-orange glow started to surround the sand, quickly turning the weapon into a black glass bow. She caught it out of mid-air, gripping it tightly and turning it over in her hand.

“Woah. That’s awesome. I don’t think I’ve really ever seen a weapon that unique. It’s really cool, Cinder.”

“It splits into swords too and I can dismiss it if I have to.” She waved her hand again, turning the weapon back into ashen sand and dropping it into the pouch. “Comes in handy if I ever get disarmed, right?”

“Yeah. It sure does. Hey, uh, do you know when we were supposed to be in the auditorium by? Or where the auditorium is?”

“I was following you…”

“Yeah, same.”

“Do you think there might be a directory or something?”

“Just a hunch, but I think we might be out of luck.”


	3. The Shining Beacon Part 2

Raven Xiao Long’s boots clicked along the pavement of the streets of downtown Vale. She checked her scroll again, forty-five minutes until curfew, in ordinary circumstances Raven would be rushing to catch the ferry back to Patch, but these were not ordinary circumstances and her semblance allowed her to run behind a little bit. She pressed a button on her scroll, dialing Qrow’s number. She needed to be sure he was where she needed him to be.

“Qrow?” she asked into her scroll.

“What’s up, Rae?” Qrow asked.

“What are you doing?”

“Uh, just at home, why?”

“I’m picking some dust up for Omen, I’m not gonna make the last ferry home before curfew. I just need to portal off you to get home in time.” Raven grimaced as Qrow paused.

“What? Can’t just portal off dad?”

“He’d be on my case about responsibility and time management, I’m not in the mood for another lecture. I’d just go off Aunt Ruby, but gods know where she goes on Huntress assignments. Why? Is there a problem?”

“No, that’ll work, just curious why I get the honor.”

“Don’t flatter yourself, baby brother.” Raven clicked a button on her scroll, ending the call as she opened her gallery, pulling up a blurry picture of a figure in all black, save for the glint of her gold cuffs and the white of her mask. Yang Branwen, her birth mother. Raven took one look at the entrance to the club, hearing music loud enough to shake the door frame pounding from inside. She had heard stories, mostly from Aunt Ruby, that her mother would have loved this sort of place when she was her age. Raven was not her mother, and there were few places she wanted to be less, but it was the first lead she’d gotten in months.

Raven took one last look at the picture, focusing on her mother, thoughts and emotions of her, any memories she might have buried in her subconscious. Focusing intently on the way her mother made her feel. Hurt and betrayal started to bubble up, but Raven tried her best to redirect them into hope. Raven closed her eyes, reaching for Omen and channeling her semblance, her mind locked on nothing but Yang Branwen. She opened her eyes as a red and black rift sputtered in the alleyway, before flickering out of existence.

Raven sighed, when her semblance first manifested, she was under the impression it only worked on her father, aunt Ruby, and Qrow, the three people she was most connected to. Ruby had theorized that it could be expanded, that it was tied to her connections with people and that she could eventually be used to portal to anyone she was close enough with. Try as she might, she still hadn’t been able to make a portal to her mother. It left her wondering if the connection, perhaps, couldn’t be one sided for her portal to work. She was going to have to do this the hard way.

The doors to the club slid open as the music was now free to assault Raven's ears on an entirely different decibel level. The white flashing lights certainly weren’t helping the girls mood either, but she had a mission, and the sooner she accomplished that mission, the sooner she could get the hell out of here.

Raven skirted the perimeter of the dance floor, pushing past the drunk mass of people chatting around tables and finally letting her deep red eyes settle on the man she was looking for. He was tall with a beard that hugged his face, probably in his late twenties or early thirties, dressed in a black suit without a jacket, a red tie completing the look. The man was Junior Xiong, one of the shadier club owners in town, but those associations also made him one of the more knowledgeable ones.

He was speaking with another man, one with shaggy blonde hair and armor over jeans. Jaune Arc, wanted criminal, was the first thing that came to Raven’s mind, a wanted criminal wouldn’t exactly be unwelcome in this club. The type of person that associated with her mother was, unfortunately, not above associating with the likes of Arc either. As a student of Beacon, effective in about a week, maybe she should have been more eager to arrest the man, but her mission was more important, so she waited for the man to leave, and as Arc walked away, Raven took a place next to Junior at the bar.

“Scotch, neat.” Raven grumbled to the bartender. Junior raised an eyebrow.

“Strong drink for a girl your age. That deep in your emo phase?” Junior smirked, Raven just scowled. “Besides, you seem a little young to be in here, can I see some ID?”

Raven patted the sword, with its intricate chamber of rotating dust blades, on her hip and looked back at the man, who simply rolled his eyes.

“Aren’t you a little old to have a name like Junior?” Raven shot back, deadpan. She had thought, for a moment, about at least attempting to flirt. That was decidedly not her strong suit, so intimidation would have to do.

“Alright, so you know who I am. You got a name, sweetheart?” Junior folded his arms, Raven somehow found it in herself to scowl even deeper.

“I do.” Raven shot him a look before twirling her sword out of its sheath, pressing the red dust blade to Junior’s throat as she threw him against the bar. “And if I don’t like your answers to my questions, it’ll be the last name you ever hear.”

Good, Raven, draw your weapon before you even ask the questions, that’s how negotiations are supposed to work.

“I-i… you…”

“I’ve heard you’re a man who knows how to find things. All I’m asking you for is the location of one person.” Raven showed her scroll, displaying the image of the figure in black.

“Listen, kid, I have no idea who that is. Never seen them before.”

“Really, you of all people have never seen Yang Branwen? The leader of the Branwen tribe?”

“Bandits aren’t really the social type. Never ta-”

“But they are the criminal type, and if there’s one thing you know, it’s criminal activity. Are you telling me none of her or any of her men have ever wanted a drink?”

“If you wanna make it out of this club alive, kid, I suggest you let me go.” Junior said, drawing Raven’s attention to the two dozen hired goons behind her with weapons trained on her. She sighed, removing her knee from the man’s chest and her sword from his throat.

The music and lights were still giving her a headache as she pulled back, all of that wouldn’t even be worth it without any information Junior had, maybe she had gone too aggressive, maybe she should have asked Qrow or one of her friends to come. She sighed as she tucked the blade back into its sheath and prepared to leave.

“You’ll pay for this.” Junior grunted.

“Well, if I’m going to buy it, may as well break it.” Raven mumbled, her blood-red eyes searing.

Raven pressed a button on the sheath of her sword, launching the blade forward, aimed directly at the head of the club owner. Sending him spiraling into and through a large glass structure on the edge of the dance floor, sending him careening into the far wall of the club, she caught Omen by its hilt, in one fluid motion. She smirked as she twirled her blade and it telescoped out to its full length. She took one fleeting glance at her scroll as the other goons advanced on her, thirty minutes until curfew. One thought came immediately to her mind.

“What will I do with the other twenty-five?”

\---

Qrow and Cinder finally made their way to the auditorium, being some of the last students to make their way in but, to their relief, not late. Qrow scanned the crowd, watching for several things. First would be his sister if she ever actually planned on showing her face around him again, then would be Winter, largely to stay as far away from her as possible, lastly, he had an idea to keep an eye out for the faunus boy from early, if nothing else just to wave or give a thumbs up. One of these things would find him before he saw any of them.

“I need you for a moment.” Raven said, gripping her brother’s arm like a vice.

“Oh, sh- Raven. I’m talking to someone.” Qrow barked back, silver eyes narrowing.

“Good for you. Come with me.”

“Raven, be nice.” Qrow sighed as Raven growled under her breath, her eyes shooting towards Cinder, who looked like she wished she herself could melt as the two girls locked eyes.

“Hi, Raven Xiao Long. I’m Qrow’s sister. I need to borrow him for a few minutes, and then you can get back to your date or whatever, okay? Okay. Come with me.”

“Ra- I’m sorry, Cinder.”

“It’s okay, go.” Cinder forced a small smile.

“Talk soon?”

“Yes. I’d like that.”

Raven pulled her brother off to the side of the auditorium as Cinder sighed a lowered her eyes to the floor of the auditorium, slinking over to the other side, unbeknownst to the other set of red eyes, softer than Raven’s, watching her.

“Okay, what? What is so important, Rae?” Qrow asked, grumbling under his breath.

“I’m sorry about ditching you earlier.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Okay, I’m not, but I had a good reason and I need your help.”

Qrow rolled his eyes and slumped his shoulders, it may be a new year and a new school, but it was still the same Raven.

“You know, without you there, I did explode.” He said, raising an eyebrow.

“You have a breakdown in one hour without your big sister? Never took you for the co-dep-”

“No, literally. That Schnee girl’s luggage was a case of dust.”

“Of course it was.” Raven stifled a laugh.

“Anyway, you said you needed my help? Supposing I’m still willing to give it to you.”

“Oh, you’ll help me. I know things, and that makes me dangerous.”

“Really?” Qrow scoffed. “Day one at Beacon and you’re already blackmailing me?”

“Didn’t dad always say to use every tool at your disposal to get the job done?”

“Don’t think he ever thought extortion would be part of that job.”

“Well, I always was an overachiever. Anyway, I think I have an idea.”

“Oh yeah? What about?”

“Mom.”

Qrow sighed, this again. Raven hadn’t really stopped with this search since she found out that Aunt Yang was her mom. He understood, to a degree, even if everything he’d ever heard of Aunt Yang painted her as a person that shouldn’t be cared about, someone not worth looking for, she still was her mom. It was bordering on obsession and dad had long grown tired of it, or too hurt by it. He wasn’t exactly sure which.

“Raven…” he started.

“I know, I know, if you’re gonna say what dad would say, save it.” Raven said, looking away from her brother.

“I’m just sa-”

“I don’t really care what you’re saying, You knew your mom.”

“Rae… she was your mom too.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Alright, what’s your idea?”

“She was a student here. Someone, anyone, maybe even Salem if nobody else, has to know where she is or at least how to contact her. Am I expected to believe Ruby is the only non-bandit she ever speaks to?”

“Aunt Yang doesn’t exactly keep a ton of contacts, ruins the whole nomadic bandit thing.”

“Are you saying there’s nobody here who knows anything?”

“I’m saying not to get your hopes up, Rae.”

“Qrow…” Raven lowered her gaze, sighing deeply. “I need to do this, I need closure. Someone here has to know something, it’s probably easier than getting dad or aunt Ruby to talk.”

“Do you ever think dad and Ruby are quiet about her for a reason? She’s not a good person.”

“I’d like to judge for myself, she was a huntress too.”

“But tha-” Qrow started, thinking back to what Ruby had told him, the reason she and Yang came to Beacon in the first place. That wasn’t information he was exactly free to share, least of all with her. “Sure, what do you need?”

“Just poke around a little. Yearbooks, older teachers, just… snoop a little with me, get creative? Maybe throw around that legacy a bit if you must.”

“Oh, so now want to use the family name?”

“Mh, speaking of family names.” Raven nodded, indicating behind Qrow.

“Shit…” Qrow sighed under his breath as an icy figure in white approached him.

“You.” Winter Schnee started.

“Me.” Qrow answered back.

“Read this,” She shoved a pamphlet into his chest. “And never speak to me again.”

“Uh, okay. Got it.”

“Hm, someone have a crush on you, Qrow?” Raven said, her eyes locked on Winter.

“Excuse me?” She barked back, turning on her heel to face Raven, who stood nearly half a foot taller.

“I wasn’t talking to you, I was talking to my brother. If you must know, I just found it funny that you were so adamant my brother ‘never speak to you again’. You protest too much, I think.”

“How dare you?” Winter sputtered. “I will not be talked down to!”

“I’d recommend some higher heels then, for a start.”

“I’ll have you know your brother almost got me killed!”

“He does that sometimes. You’re alive, aren’t you? Not even a hair out of place.” Raven smirked, grabbing the pin from the heiress’ bun and releasing it, sending a cascade of white down her back.

“You will regret that.” Winter snarled, her icy blue eyes locked on Raven’s blood red.

“Oh yeah? Can you back up that talk?” Raven placed her hand on the handle of Omen, patting the side of its sheath.

“Anytime.” Winter placed a hand on the longer of her two swords. “Anywhere.” Her other hand shot to the shorter blade.

“Here. No-”

The sound of a woman clearing her throat stopped the impending brawl, Qrow taking the opportunity to step between the girls as their eyes all shot towards the front of the auditorium. Headmistress Salem began her introductory address, seeming to, at least temporarily, ease the tension and put their focus elsewhere. As she talked, Qrow pulled his sister away from the Heiress just in time to hear that they would all be sleeping in the ballroom before getting team and dorm assignments the next day.

\---

Qrow laid on his front, glancing down at his journal and tapping the pencil against the nearly blank paper. He sighed as Raven sat down next to him, pulling Omen from its sheath, inspecting each of the blades.

“What’s that, your memoir?” Raven asked, glancing at Qrow’s journal out of the corner of her eye.

“Writing a letter.” Qrow answered.

“Oh? To whom? A love letter? For that Schnee girl or the… what was her name?”

“Cinder, and no. Just uh… a letter to my friends back at Signal, you know?”

“I see.” Raven said, deciding to ignore the fact that the heading of the page was addressed to “Mom”, she was the last person who could begrudge anyone missing their mother and while there were a lot of subjects that were fair game to tease Qrow about, this was not one of them.

“Not in a social mood?” Qrow asked.

“Have I ever been in a social mood?”

“Thought you might broaden your horizons.”

“Think I’ll pass.”

Qrow sat up next to his sister, taking a look around the room for the first time since laying down, the room was more filled out than it had been when he last looked around. Much to his relief, not that he looked too far, Winter wasn’t visible. The girl from before, Cinder, was sitting by herself in the corner, she could probably use some company, while the red-haired boy, Roman, was in the middle of a group of other boys speaking, he could probably use a little less company. Qrow, however, found his eyes locked on a somewhat familiar face, the faunus boy from earlier, he was dressed in dark black pajama pants and a red shirt, his eye patch still on, his sword still at his side as he glanced out the window. Qrow never did properly thank him, and it might be good to have him on his side, so he got up, walking towards the boy, Raven following out of curiosity.

“Qrow?” she asked.

“That boy, he helped me earlier. Just wanna say thanks.”

“Guess I’ll tag along, better than nothing.”

Qrow approached the boy, who had his uncovered eye facing the room, the eye darted towards Qrow as he approached, and his hand shot to the sword on his hip, prompting Qrow to raise his hands.

“Oh, you.” Adam said, letting his hand drop slightly.

“A little jumpy?” Qrow asked.

“You could say that.”

“Look, I just wanted to come over and say thanks about earlier.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“Didn’t, uh, catch your name.”

“Adam.” Adam’s gaze returned to the window.

“I’m Qrow.”

“Mhm.”

“Uh… this is my sister, Raven.”

“I see.”

“Well, alright then, than-”

“Raven Xiao Long.” She extended her hand, basically forcing Adam to shake it.

“Adam… Taurus.”

“Does it have a name?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Your sword.” Raven indicated to his hip. “Does it have a name?”

“They do. The sword is Wilt, the sheath is a shotgun, and it’s called Blush.”

“Omen.” Raven extended her own weapon, pulling it from the sheath slightly, showing a blade of red dust. Of course, she brought it with her.

“Dust?”

“Yes. Found it gives an appropriate kick.”

“Could prove dangerous.” A dark look crossed Adam’s face. Qrow almost wondered if that meant whatever happened to his eye involved dust.

“What’s life without a little danger, besides, even if it’s dangerous to me, it’s just as dangerous to my enemies.”

“You have many enemies?”

“A few. You?”

“More than I’d like.” Adam tapped on one of his horns.

“Sorry to hear that.”

Silence hung over the three for a moment, Qrow shifting awkwardly, not sure whether jumping in about Harbinger would be the best or worst thing he could do.

“Are you a weapons person?” Adam asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You kind of learn to be. Family trait.”

“How so?”

“Dad is a huntsman, Aunt is a huntress, mom was too.” Raven said, both Yang and Summer could qualify as “mom” and someone who “was” a huntress, the ambiguity of the statement was probably intentional, Qrow figured, and he hated it.

“I see, that explains your reason for being here I guess.”

“Not big on legacy, just want to make a difference.”

“I can respect that.”

“What about you, Adam?” Qrow cut in. “First-generation huntsman?”

“Couldn’t tell you, barely knew my parents.” Adam sighed. Qrow grimaced, maybe that was a question he should just stop asking people.

“The family that took me in though, they weren’t, but they were very good, noble people. They’re part of the reason I’m doing this.” Adam finished, his eyes trailing back out the window, up towards the stars.

“It was good talking to you, Raven. And Qrow. But, it’s getting late and I get the feeling we’ll all want to be ready for tomorrow.” Adam concluded.

“We will. Sleep well, Adam.” Raven said.

“Yeah, goodnight man.” Qrow trailed off. Adam gave a small wave as the siblings walked back to their beds.

“Thought you weren’t the social type.” Qrow smirked.

“I’m not, but neither is he.” Raven laid back down. “I can get along with other anti-social people.”

“You should form a club.”

“Kind of defeats the purpose, wouldn’t you say?”

“Yeah, but the anti-social social club has a nice ring to it.”

“Sure. Goodnight Qrow.” Raven rolled her eyes.

“Night, Rae.” Qrow sighed, sliding his journal under his pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to, ultimately, cut the Raven fight short here. The wait for this chapter was long enough with me taking a break to go on vacation, the fight wasn’t that unique/different with Raven in Yang’s place and nobody else swapped, and the fight ultimately isn’t that relevant to the plot. I’m omitting the red and white trailers entirely, so cutting out the combat bit of the yellow trailer didn’t seem that out there. As for the black trailer? I have plans there, but I’m building up Adam and Blake’s backstory through a series of interludes instead of posting them one after the other. Anyway, I appreciate all the comments and I’m having a blast writing this! Sorry for the delay between updates, I went on vacation and am also working on a couple other (mostly RWBY related) projects. So stay tuned.


	4. The First Step Part 1

Content Warning: Semi-graphic description of wounds, blood.

Marcus Black dropped to the ground outside the remains of his burning house. Blood trailed from the corner of his mouth, down his chin, and into the grass and dirt beneath him. His son, Mercury, stood opposite him, not the picture of health either. Blood, mostly his father’s, covered his hands and arms up to the elbows, while more blood, most of this his own, oozed from his knees. Marcus chuckled, this was fate, he figured, perhaps the fate of all assassins.

“Alright then…” Marcus trailed, coughing a few drops of blood at his son's feet. “You have learned something.”

“Give it back.” Mercury choked, his voice was hoarse, gruff, but trembling all the same. He wiped some blood from his chin.

“Why? You proved you don’t need it, didn’t you?”

“You said if I beat you, you’d give it back.”

“But this, Merc, is much more entertaining.”

“Give it back, and I’ll get you help.” Mercury offered, for his part it was sincere, though he wasn’t exactly sure how or even why, it seemed appropriate. Marcus just laughed, gripping his ribs in pain from the sensation.

“Help? You still have some things to learn. No saving me, boy.” Marcus spat up more blood,

“Why are you doing this?”

“The world is a dark place, Mercury. If you aren’t tough it will chew you up and spit you out like nothing. It’s tough love.”

“It may be tough, but there’s no love here. Give it back.”

“Ha...” Marcus trailed off, slumping further into the dirt. Before Mercury could speak again, he heard a sound from the treeline behind him. His head snapped towards the noise. Someone was here. Thoughts flooded his mind; police, huntsmen, Grimm, all were possible, none were good news in the state he was in. The only witnesses were Mercury and Marcus, the only word they had to go on that he was fighting in self-defense was his own.

Despite his pain, Mercury clicked his boots against the ground, priming them to fire if he should need.

“Come out.” He shot deadpan towards the treeline. Mercury exhaled when he saw a girl about his age crawl out from the bushes. She was dark-skinned with green hair and red eyes, dressed in tattered clothes, bordering on rags. She was dirty, looking more like a starving beggar than any serious threat. Mercury strengthened his stance, causing more blood to pour from the cuts on his legs.

“What do you want?” Mercury asked the girl.

“I…” She stammered.

“What!?” Mercury demanded.

“Wrong place, wrong time, I was… foraging.”

“Try that line a few hundred more times and I might believe you, nothing edible grows out here anyway. So either you’re genuine and have no survival skills, or you’re a thief with no luck or sense.”

“I… I’m not a…”

“Save it. Go.”

“You’re hurt, you need help.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Please,” The girl took a few steps forward, causing Mercury to raise his fists. “We aren’t that far from town, maybe I coul-”

“Leave me alone.” Mercury spat, trying to force the grimace of pain off his face. As he fought with his own pain, he heard a pop before feeling his right leg give out, causing him to collapse into the dirt, screaming as more dirt got into his open wounds.

“You’ll die out here.” The girl muttered.

“Yeah… maybe that’s a good thing. Do I give off a friendly vibe to you?” Mercury shot back.

“You give the vibe of someone who needs help!”

“I don’t want your help! Why do you care?”

“Because I know what it feels like to be alone in the world and terrified!”

Mercury froze, he could feel his eyes start to lose their cold demeanor as he blinked. He couldn’t tell what her game was, but at this point, he didn’t have the energy for this fight anymore.

“Do what you want.” He grumbled.

The girl approached him slowly, eyeing Marcus and Mercury as she moved. She struggled to tell if Marcus was actually still alive, but she suspected he was more of a lost cause than Mercury, and she also suspected he was less worth helping. As she reached Mercury, she could see the extent of his injuries further, blood was all that was visible through the holes in his pants, save for a few white specks of bone, part of her wondered if blood loss would take him before they got help and if he would ever walk again if they did make it in time. The girl sighed, this wasn’t the first time she had dealt with injuries, but she wasn’t exactly a doctor.

“Bandages?” she asked Mercury.

“Well…” Mercury trailed, his eyes shifting to the burning house not far from them. “You can check if you want…”

“Oh…” She trailed, so bandages were out. She put her left shoulder under Mercury’s right, putting a little bit of pressure to pull him to his feet. He complied as much as he was able.

“Emerald.” The girl grunted under her breath, straining from the effort to lift him.

“Mercury.” He grumbled.

“Let’s go.”

“Not yet, I… need something.”

“Uh…” Emerald shot a look towards the burning house again.

“Not from there,” He grunted, struggling to turn Emerald. “From him.”

“Ha.” Marcus wheezed. “Like a dog with a fucking bone, aren’t you?”

“Give it back…” he stumbled, almost slipping from Emerald's grip.

“I can’t give it back, Merc-”

“Bullshit!”

“You have to find it again…”

“Find it again? What does that mean?”

“Ha…”

“What does that fucking mean!?” Mercury shouted, this time actually slipping away from Emerald, falling hard in the dirt again. He went to continue his questioning, but pained cries were all that managed to escape his throat.

A rustling sound shook all three of them, snapping their attention to the path leading from the forest to Marcus’s house. It wasn’t the faint rustling that Emerald had made, it wasn’t docile or making an effort to hide, and it came from the treetops, not the bushes along the ground.

“Grimm…” Mercury trailed. Emerald started to reach behind her back, but before she could even pull her weapon, the clearing was covered by a deluge of rose petals, knocking Emerald off her feet, next to Mercury.

The petals swirled in the air for the moment before converging on an empty spot in the clearing, forming a vaguely humanoid shape, before a woman emerged from the petals. She was dressed in a black and red dress with a white blouse, black boots, and a red hooded cloak, the hood pulled over her face, red eyes the only thing visible beneath them. The thing that caught the most attention from the onlookers was the scythe slung across her shoulders, longer than the Huntress herself, the barrel of the Scythe’s rifle trained on Marcus.

Ruby Branwen took one look at Marcus, the man was as good as dead and posed no threat to her, this didn’t ease her tension much, just shifted it towards the two teenagers that stood opposite her.

“Salem,” Ruby spoke into an earpiece. “Marcus Black isn’t going to be a problem anymore, but the situation’s changed…” Her eyes didn’t leave the teenagers.

Marcus glanced towards his son one more, final, time. His breath hitching, struggling to find more air. The inevitability of the situation was something he had accepted, but not without his final words having some impact, he cleared his throat, snapping Mercury’s attention away from the veteran huntress. He smirked to himself.

“Congratulations Merc…” Marcus trailed. “You’re a killer now.”

\---

Mercury sat up with a start, eyes darting frantically around the room. The sun was up, pouring into the ballroom of Beacon Academy, other students slept around him, a few getting an early start on their day. Mercury’s breathing started to slow. He was safe, he was at Beacon, he was far away from his father. His father had been gone for almost two years, but the nightmares hadn’t stopped. He slumped, eyes shooting to his legs, the prosthetics covered by a few thin layers of fabric. He figured a few people, his team especially, would have to know about them someday, but the fewer people who had to know about his legs, the better.

“Mercury.” A voice shook him from his thoughts, a hand resting gently on his elbow. “You okay?”

“Yeah…” He started, looking over to Emerald, who had been sleeping in the bed to his left and forced a half-smile. “Just uh… the usual.”

“I’m sorry.” Emerald grimaced, getting off her bed and grabbing her toothbrush, a change of clothes, various things she needed to get ready. “Let’s just look ahead for right now, we’re here.”

“Finally…” Mercury followed Emerald, grabbing some things of his own. “See how long it lasts.”

“Mercury…”

“I’m just saying, without… you know.”

“So you don’t have a sem-”

“Shh!” Mercury cut her off sharply as they walked.

“So you don’t have one of those, you’re still one of the best fighters I’ve ever seen. You’re really talented, nobody’s going to doubt you.”

“Please, I got in here on the recommendation of a living legend, I’m a pity project.” Mercury sighed.

“You passed the entrance exam just like everyone else, the only one who sees you that way is you…”

Mercury opened the door to the men’s room in a huff, effectively ending the conversation. He wanted Emerald to be right, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was just here as Salem’s reform project. “Son of an assassin becomes Huntsman” had a ring that the media would cling to for years. The legends of Ruby Branwen and Salem would grow and they could pat themselves on the back for another good deed. Maybe he was cynical.

Alright, he was definitely cynical, but he wasn’t sure at what point rational cynicism became pessimistic cynicism. He sighed, quickly getting ready for the day, making sure his prosthetic limbs were hidden as well as possible, his long pants and the high tops of Talaria, his boots, did a good enough job. He left the bathroom and leaned against the wall, not having long to wait for Emerald. The two had breakfast, before making their way to their locker rooms, prepping their weapons. Mercury paused for a second to consider if he was the only one who was wearing his weapon before he came into the room, all he kept in his locker was more ammunition.

“So, team assignment day.” Emerald said.

“Team assignment day…” Mercury echoed.

“Any hopes?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You and two people who know how to keep to themselves.” Mercury sighed.

“Not in a friend making mood?”

“Do I give off a friendly vibe to you?” Mercury smirked slightly, causing Emerald to punch his shoulder gently.

“Yeah, but I got you to open up, big softy.”

“One whole friend, I’m genuinely Mr. Congeniality.”

“I’m just saying, it’s not a bad idea to let more people in. You don’t wanna be stuck with people you don’t get along with for four years.”

“Well see, Em.”

The two friends made their way out of the locker room, passing by the Rose-Xiao Long siblings, inspecting Harbinger and Omen respectively.

“You’re in a good mood.” Raven said.

“Yup. May not be the best in the classroom or at making friends, but this…” Qrow indicated to his weapon. “This is hard to mess up.”

“Yet you constantly invent new ways.”

“Ouch. Aren’t older siblings supposed to protect their younger siblings?”

“Oh, believe me, Qrow.” Raven put an arm around her brother. “Anyone seriously tried to fuck with you, they’d answer to my sword before the had time to draw another breath. The only one allowed to bully you is me.”

“Gee, thanks. This is gonna be a fun four years.”

“About that,” Raven glanced away from her brother. “Have you thought about broadening your horizons?”

“Are you implying you don’t want to be on a team with me?”

“Yes.”

“Rae-”

“Listen, I think it will be extremely good for your personal growth, and my personal health, if you and I were on different teams.”

“And why is that?”

“Didn’t you already say you weren’t great at making friends?”

“Raven,” Qrow sighed. “You don’t want to be on a team, cause you’d have to share a room with me and my semblance, that’s it, right?”

“Is it a crime to enjoy having my possessions intact?”

“Whatever…” Qrow sighed.

The siblings returned to their weapon prep as a red-haired boy in a white suit and black bowler hat walked between the two of them, glancing briefly at Raven before getting a hint of recognition and thinking better of a second attempt. The smirk returned to his face when his eyes locked on the icy figure of Winter Schnee.

“Good morning, Snowflake.” Roman cooed, tipping his hat.

“Hm?” Winter asked, not looking over at him.

“Well, I couldn’t help but notice that teams were being assigned today and I was wondering if you would do me the honor o-”

“No.”

“Now now, you didn’t eve-”

“You were going to ask me to join your team and I could not be less interested.” Winter pulled her blades from the locker, her hands lingering on the hilts for a moment. “Anything else?”

“That’s hardly fair, You don’t even know my name.”

“So I don’t.”

Winter turned on her heel began to walk away, Roman following after her, until an abrupt blunt force knocked Roman off his stride and into the side of the lockers. Raven retrieved the hilt of her sword from the air, sheathing it in a fluid motion. Winter stopped, nodding.

“Well,” Winter began. “Thank you, I suppose.”

“Don’t flatter yourself, Princess.” Raven scoffed. “I did that for fun.”

Both girls walked on, leaving Qrow behind with Roman, he sighed and offered a hand, which Roman gladly took.

“Man, I just do not have any luck!” Roman started.

“No, I don’t have any luck, you don’t have any taste,” Qrow smirked.

“I have a type.”

“It’s not a type that’s gonna end well for you.”

“That’s part of the charm.”

“Whatever, man.” Qrow scoffed. “Maybe try without the ‘Snowflake’ next time.”

\---

“That being said,” Salem continued, well into the middle of her introductory lecture. “The first person you make eye contact with after you land will be your partner for the next four years.”

“Great…” Qrow mumbled under his breath, as the lecture continued. “Leaving it up to luck, my favorite.”

“This should be interesting,” Raven smirked.

“Rae, just… portal to me.”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

“I may not be the best partner, but there are people I know you don’t want to be paired up with.” Qrow shot a glance at Roman, “And people I definitely don’t want to be paired up with.” His eyes now trailing to Winter.

“Well, it’s a good fallback.” Raven assumed a position, ready for the platform she was on to launch her forward.

“Raven!” Qrow assumed the same position.

“Um, Ma’am?” Roman asked, leaning his cane against the platform. “I… was just wonderin-”

Roman’s eyes darted to his left as a classmate was launched into the sky.

“You mentioned a… landing strategy…”

Another student. Emerald. Then Mercury.

“What ex-”

“Raven, just… okay?” Qrow asked. Raven only smirked in response as she was launched into the sky.

“Great… here we go.” Qrow muttered, before glancing towards Roman. “See ya on the other side.” Qrow was launched into the sky.

“Um… were there supposed to be par-” Roman was cut off as his platformed launched him into the sky, Salem and Glynda turned to watch as the student disappeared into the clouds, the last thing visible to them the image of Roman frantically grabbing to keep his bowler hat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a little while, life got mildly hectic, but it's up and I'm happy with it. We're getting a lot more into character divergences this chapter, Emerald and Mercury are far from Nora and Ren. I cut a lot of Salem's speech because it would be Ozpin's verbatim nearly and I'm going on the assumption most people have heard that, I'm trying my best not to repeat monologues that aren't changed.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!


	5. The First Step Part 2

“Well done.” Pyrrha Nikos said, stepping out of the shadows behind one of the class buildings and smirking, twirling a small queen chess piece in her hand. A girl followed behind her, a brown-haired rabbit faunus with a camera, and two more of her subordinates sat on a bench opposite her, an orange-haired girl in a white top and pink skirt, and a dark-haired boy in green long-sleeved tailcoat and tan pants.

“We did our best, as long as your information is good we should be a team.” The orange-haired girl, Nora, said.

“If my information isn’t good, Pietro has us covered,” Pyrrha said, before turning to the faunus, Velvet. “And, if my information isn’t good, I need to have some words with your boss.”

“It’s good.” Velvet said, her voice carrying a sharp Australian accent. “He knows what he’s doing.”

“Allegedly.” Pyrrha rolled her eyes. “As long as more fifteen-year-olds don’t get in his way.”

Velvet grimaced, knowing enough to hold her tongue in front of Pyrrha, she just sighed and shook her.

“This is testing group B now, yes?” Pyrrha asked, looking at the boy, Ren’s, tablet.

“Correct. They just began.” He said.

“Anyone of interest?”

“As with most groups, largely nobodies but… a few that might be useful to us, some very much so.”

“Go ahead.”

Ren sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He looked at Nora and grimaced, setting the tablet down for a moment.

“Pyrrha…” He started. “Are you absolutely sure?”

“About what?”

“This. Beacon. Wouldn’t it be easier to just… forge documents and come in with the tournament?”

“Afraid? Can’t keep you cover that long? Can’t keep up?”

“Hey!” Nora cut in. “He can handle himself, we all can handle ourselves. I just think Ren is saying what we all think. Why spend damn near a year in this place?”

“Reconnaissance.”

“That’s gonna take all thi-”

“It’s the mission, Nora! If you don’t like it, perhaps you should go back to your village.”

Silence hung over the four of them, Ren’s eyes narrowed slightly as Nora balled her hands into fists, her knuckles threatening to turn white. Pyrrha smirked, she was on a tightrope with Ren and Nora and she knew it, but it was one she had learned to walk. There was a lot one could get away with when the alternative to working with you was starving alone.

“Thought so.” Pyrrha cooed. “Ren, people of interest.”

“Smallest interest to largest, Roman Torchwick, Mercury Black, Raven Xiao Long, Winter Schnee, Adam Taurus, Qrow Rose.” Ren consulted his tablet.

“How important does a group have to be for two people to outrank a Schnee?”

“Important.” Ren smirked.

“Go ahead.”

“Torchwick has forged transcripts. Not the most exciting thing in the world, but it’s decent blackmail.”

“Any remarkable skill to speak of?”

“Um…” Ren consulted the tablet, watching the camera focused on the terrified Torchwick. “Gonna go with no…”

“I’ll take it under advisement. Next?”

“Mercury Black, son of Marcus Black, the assassin.”

“Hm,” Pyrrha raised an eyebrow “Just family ties?”

“Skills seem to run in the family, he killed his father. Morality could be bendable.”

“Interesting. Who else?”

“Raven Xiao Long. Daughter of the bandit leader Yang Branwen. Desperate to find her mother, by any means necessary. Her aunt is also Ruby Branwen.”

“The Branwen tribe is nomadic, notoriously hard to track.” Pyrrha grimaced.

“Yes, but I trust our resources more than that of some random girl.”

“Next.”

“Winter Schnee. Heires-” Ren started

“Okay, yes, yes, I know. Heiress, father is rich and corrupt, brother is a lieutenant in the Atlas military, didn’t need an explanation there.” Pyrrha cut him off, holding a hand out.

“Adam Taurus, then.” Ren glanced at his tablet. “Former White Fang member, stayed past the transition to Sienna Khan’s leadership.”

“It’s alright blackmail, but some random ex-White Fang member interests us because…?”

“Oh!” Nora perked up, cutting in and practically prancing over to Ren. “Can I tell her? Please!?”

“Go ahead.” Ren smirked.

“Because his ex-girlfriend is Blake Belladonna.” Nora said, smiling brightly at her leader.

Pyrrha’s lips curled from a smirk into a smile that nearly matched Nora’s as she started to laugh slightly. She glanced back up at Ren.

“I… almost don’t need to ask, but was the split amicable?” Pyrrha asked.

“I don’t think she does anything amicably.” Ren scoffed.

“But this was… something else. You wanna know why the White Fang has been so aggressive, especially their Vale branch? She’s mad and she’s looking.” Nora said, the smile not leaving her face.

“That,” Pyrrha smirked, “That we can use. In many ways.”

“Yes, I know some of us were questioning Blake’s loyalty. I believe that problem may have just fixed itself.” Ren added.

“She’s insane, and I’d never trust her on a mission like this, but… anyone can be useful with the proper motivation.” She said. “And the last one, Qrow?”

“Ah.” Ren said. “Nephew of Ruby Branwen again, two years ahead of his class, a prodigy honestly. But…”

“But?”

“But what’s of interest to us is… his eyes.”

“Oh?” Pyrrha froze, recognition, followed by a smirk. “Oh. That is very interesting. Have you reported this fact back to you-know-who?”

“Soon as I found out about it.”

“Good,” Pyrrha smirked again, stepping away from her three makeshift teammates. “Well, I must say, this is shaping up to be a very… interesting year.”

\---

The students of the testing group soared through the air, high above the treeline, trying to find the best angle to execute their landing strategy. Qrow was one of the first to attempt to come down, having his trajectory thrown off by a collision with a small Nevermore, which he was honestly coming to expect at this point. He grabbed for Harbinger, quickly twirling it out into its scythe form as he started to plummet. He stuck the curved blade out and jerked to an abrupt halt as the metal caught the branch. He continued with the momentum, rolling to a stop on the ground and taking a look towards the student passing above him.

Winter, without so much as flinching, was able to generate a small collection of resplendent white glyphs that guided her to the ground, landing with practiced precision. Mercury, on the other hand, made much more noise. He flipped over in the air, launching himself downward with a shot from his boots. He gave a smirk to Emerald before going into a free fall. He crashed through the treeline with relative ease and found himself flipping to land feet first a few inches from the forest floor, his prosthetics taking the brunt of the impact, shaking the trees in the immediate area.

Raven could have easily just made a portal to her brother and arrived safely on the ground below, but something about that all seemed too easy. When given an opportunity to show off, it seemed a waste not to take it. She spun in the air, pointing her back to the trees and slammed the trigger on her sheath, launching her sword skyward and directing her own momentum down towards the trees. She felt her back crash through the top branches as her eyes narrowed. One-hundred feet and falling. Ninety, eighty. There it was, a glint of red breaking through the green. Seventy, sixty, fifty. She checked her right, the tree was close enough, probably sturdy enough, she’d know soon. Forty, thirty. The blade was spinning, hit a tree branch, that was something she had been hoping wouldn’t have happened, but it didn’t screw her plan up totally. She just needed to time it exactly right. Twenty, fifteen. Impact was seconds away, Ten feet.

Raven grabbed the falling sword by the hilt and threw all of her body weight to her right. The sword found its mark, burying itself into the old dense wood of the tree, creaking under the sudden change in momentum, but stopping. Raven detached the hilt from the disposable blade, her feet dropping the few inches felt to hit the ground as she did. It was riskier, riskier than it needed to be, but it was also, undeniably, fun.

Roman was having much less fun, frantically struggling to hold onto his possessions, as his flight started to descend. It quickly looked as if his landing strategy was about to become more of a crashing strategy. He grabbed his cane, desperate, turning the handle and pulling back slightly. This was the only thing he could reasonably think to do with the time he had, so if it didn’t work, at least it wouldn’t make him more dead.

He pulled back on his cane removing the top entirely as the small top of an umbrella folded out. Roman could nearly cry with joy when the umbrella started to catch wind and his descent began to slow.

“Ha!” He called out, seemingly to the heavens. “Thank you, Neo!”

Roman began to float, finally breaking through the tree line, he looked down, preparing for the moment when his feet would be on solid ground again. He let out a sigh and wiped the sweat from his brow as he saw his feet get closer. Then he stopped, unfortunately, he stopped about forty feet too high.

“Uh, what?” He said, glancing up, seeing his small umbrella trapped between two tree branches, stuck firmly in place. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me…”

\---

Qrow straightened up, tucking Harbinger back behind his back for ease of movement. He picked a direction and sprinted, hoping it would be the way both to his partner and the relic he needed to recover.

“So, Raven really ditched me, huh?” he thought to himself. “Don’t exactly know what I was expecting, but… whatever. I’m not gonna freak out or cry about it. There are other people.”

As he ran he continued to think, running through every person he’d interacted with to this point.

“Alright, what about Roman? He’s not… well, he’s not the absolute worst, probably better when you get to know him. But I don’t actually know that he’s anywhere near competent. What about Adam? He seemed cool, and if the way he carried himself was an indication, he has more experience than most students here, besides I’ve always wanted to get to know more faunus. Then again, he was about as warm and friendly as Raven. Or what about Cinder? She was nice and we got along okay, plus she’s kinda cute honestly. Of course with my luck, I’ll probably run into-”

Qrow entered a clearing, skidding to a stop when he saw a figure, narrowly avoiding a collision as the person turned. They locked eyes, both of them freezing as silver met icy blue. Qrow sighed, Winter Schnee was going to be his partner for the next four years. Of course, that would be what happened, it was almost fate from the time they left the launch pad. He just hoped he’d get a break for once.

Qrow stared at Winter, Winter glared back. Before either of them could say anything, Winter turned on her heel and proceeded in the opposite direction Qrow had come from. She knew there were cameras, they both did, but neither of them particularly cared.

“Yeah,” Qrow called after her. “Well same to you!”

Winter proceeded, hoping to find someone, anyone, more suitable, perhaps, she thought the cameras had missed their brief interaction. Most anyone would be more suitable a partner than a living bad luck charm, everyone, she would wager, even-

There was a crash in front of her as a bundle of a person came crashing to the earth. Groaning and rubbing his head. Roman looked up at Winter, his eyes briefly going wide before regaining his composure. He cleared his throat, scrambling to put his cap back on.

“Hey there beautiful,” he started, “Thought I might just drop in.”

Winter sighed, alright, so maybe not everyone. She turned back the way she came, defeated.

“Couldn’t get enough of me?” Qrow asked as Winter stomped towards and past him.

“Shut up.” She shot back.

“Well… that couldn’t have gone worse.” Roman mumbled, dusting himself off.

“It could always be worse. You’re alive, aren’t you?” A girl said, coming from his right. He smirked slightly.

“Well, allegedly.” He looked up to admit the girl, she was pretty but didn’t seem to dress to flaunt it. Not innocent, so much as humble. Roman tipped his cap with a flourish.

“I, am Roman Tor-” a pain in his ribs, cut him off.

“I… ah forget it, hey, I’m Roman.”

“Cinder.” the girl smiled.

\---

“Do not delay me, Qrow. I assure you, I will drag you to a good grade if I mu-” Winter started, making Qrow scoff.

“Yeah, I get it. You know, I’m not exactly bad at this.” Qrow answered.

“I haven’t seen proof of that, and your semblance is an active liability.”

“It’s not just me, it works over an area, it hurts my enemies too, and I know how to use it.”

“That remains to be seen.”

“Look” Qrow barked “Just because I’m not from the best Atlesian training daddy’s money could buy doesn’t mean I’m not on par with you. This is what my family does, what I’ve been trained to do. You think I’ll delay you? You’re the one who’s gonna struggle to keep up with me.”

“Oh really? Is that a challenge?” Winter raised an eyebrow.

“No, it’s a promise.”

The two glared at each other, stepping closer, eye to eye, both gritting their teeth, hands on their weapons. A sound snapped them out of their feud, a low growl, followed by another, then another, as red eyes started to glare from the bushes around them. A pack of Beowulfs began to enter the clearing, snapping their jaws and circling the two students.

“An entire pack… I’m attributing this to your luck.” Winter mumbled.

“You can’t prove that." Qrow shot back.

“Just stay out of my way.” Winter drew her blades, assuming a fighting stance. Qrow shot Harbinger out to its scythe form, rolling his eyes at Winter.

“Stay out of mine.”


	6. The Emerald Forest Part 1

Adam darted from behind one line of trees to the next, still no other students, which meant he was going this alone until he found his partner. It, unfortunately, didn’t mean he was alone. Three Beowolves stood directly in his path. They hadn’t noticed him yet, so sneaking around them was still an option. Adam placed a hand on the hilt of his sword, three wouldn’t be a challenge if they spotted him, but more might be lurking.

Before Adam could make a move to go around them, he found himself flat on his back. His ears ringing and an unshakeable feeling of warmth around him, He opened his unobscured eye, checking his surroundings. The Beowolves were lying dead in the clearing, their bodies quickly disappearing, the more pressing issue now was that the trees surrounding them were on fire, quickly spreading to more trees, it was threatening to turn into a forest fire.

Someone had used explosives, and they were still somewhere Adam couldn’t see. Assuming they were another student, they were reckless, using incendiary weaponry this close to so much vegetation. Adam reached for his sword, moving quickly to avoid breathing in too much smoke, going around the budding fire as much as he could.

The fire brought him back, briefly, to other times he had been surrounded by fire. All of the times his partner had burned a human outpost or encampment to the ground. It was, logically, a waste of dust to use her semblance to start the fires, but it made a statement, it made people fear her. It made Adam fear her at points. He couldn’t waste time thinking about this, about her, right now. They were through with each other, even if part of him felt like she’d be with him forever.

Adam fell to his back again as he ran, colliding with a crouched figure and falling over them. He grunted, climbing to his feet. Who on earth would be cro-

Adam froze, what he had tripped over wasn’t a person, it just wore the shape of one. It was an ice sculpture, taking the form of a crouching girl. He studied the figure, though he didn’t need to in order to identify it. It was clear to him exactly who the sculpture reflected. It was her.

The fire was excusable, something he could dismiss, even if the source of the fire disappeared. A visage of ice, however, and a visage of ice that looked exactly like his former partner, that was less excusable. Adam climbed to his feet, knees trembling, he drew his sword and held it in front of him, ready, waiting. 

A streak of black shot across the treetops above him as a black ribbon descended, moving like a whip. It caught the hilt of Adams' sword and wrapped around it. A sharp tug of the ribbon forced the sword out of Adam’s grip and up into the trees. Adam glared into the high tree branches, obscured by shade and smoke, but one sight made itself abundantly clear. A pair of glowing amber eyes glaring back at him.

“No,” Adam whispered. “No, no, no, no.” He still held his sheath, his shotgun, Blush. He aimed it towards the eyes in as fast succession as he could manage. In a sudden flicker, the eyes disappeared, not returning as he stared at where they were. Any hope that she had closed her eyes, or been hit by Blush, was probably foolish. Adam knew what it meant when she disappeared.

Adam didn’t waste the energy to turn, pointing Blush behind him and firing blindly from his back. His breath catching in his throat, heart pounding in his ears, he hoped to hear a cry of pain, or the sound of something hitting the ground, all that greeted him was the sound of bullets hitting wood.

“Close.” A voice came from his left, almost directly in his ear. It was feminine but low, and to Adam it was unmistakable. “But wrong.”

His eyes widened as he turned, stepping back to get distance and a clean shot. This wouldn’t be possible, as the second he turned, he found the same ribbon wrapping around the barrel of Blush, and pulling it out of his grasp, knocking Adam to his knees. The girl, his former partner, approached him, her left hand sliding along his neck, up the side of his face, and to his eye patch.

“This, my love,” she began, “hampers your peripheral vision. Though I guess there’s a lot you’re willing to do to please humans now.”

“Blake…” Adam muttered. “I…”

He looked up at his former partner, she was not at all the image that she was when he last saw her. She was unmistakably the same person, the same permanent half-smirk that could turn into a scowl within a moment's notice. The same pale Amber eyes that reflected nearly nothing, like the lights behind them had gone out long ago. The same weapon and tactics that had brought so many lives to an end.

Her apparel though, that’s what was different. Gone was the Grimm mask that she wore on jobs, as well as the black leather full body armor, boots, and gloves, and the long dark purple coat that reached her knees. Replacing them were small heeled boots, black and purple leggings, small white shorts, a black vest with coattails, a white crop-undershirt, and black ribbons to cover her scarred arms, including a full sleeve on her left. The biggest outlier, the strangest thing, was the bow. A small black bow sat atop her head, covering and obscuring her faunus trait, her ears, making her pass for human. Blake would kill a subordinate for hiding themself this way, something was wrong.

“Your… ears. The bow?” Adam found himself asking.

“Well, concessions have to be made when one sneaks her way into Beacon Academy.” she answered.

“You… are… n-no.” Adam felt his heart drop, this whole thing, his new life, was crashing down around him.

“Oh yes. You thought you’d get rid of me that easily? Thought you could just throw me away like that? You should know better than anyone that I can be extremely persistent.”

“Why are you doing this?” Adam climbed to his feet, readying his fists. “Leave me alone!”

Adam swung a punch at Blake, leading with his right hand and stepping into it. Blake barely flinched, ducking under the punch and throwing her own shoulder against Adam’s side in a fluid motion. She tucked her right leg behind Adam’s left, applying as much downward force as she could while she swept his leg.

Adam fell back to the ground hard, groaning as Blake stood over him, tears beginning to well in his eyes.

“You’re a foot taller than me and double my weight, you should be more than a match for me in a physical fight, but you’re not. You’re pathetic and I’m stronger than you in every way.” Blake said, the smirk not leaving her face.

“Blake… I don’t want to hurt yo-”

“You already did!”

“Blake… I’m sorry… I didn’t have a choice.”

“Well, now you do. You can come home with me, fix your mistake or…” She pressed the blade of her weapon to his throat. “You can die.”

“It doesn’t matter how many of them you kill.” Adam started. “It won’t bring him back, and you know it wouldn’t make him proud.”

“Pretty big talk from someone who broke their promise to him.” Blake glowered, Adam lowered his eyes. “And he wouldn’t be proud of you for being a human’s lapdog…”

“I’m not a lapdog, I just don’t hate all of them!”

“They all deserve to be hated, Adam!”

“Blake… please just… let go… of what they did, of me. You have to let go, or it will destroy you.”

“No. I’m not letting go. Not of my cause, and not of you. Never.” Blake went to grab Adam by the horn, pulling him close, making him look her in the eye.

“No matter where you go, no matter what you do, you will never escape me, Adam Taurus.”

A blade shot through Blake’s chest, the sword was red, like his, not just from the blood. Adam looked up at Blake’s chest, only to find it entirely black, the figure was larger now. Claws on its hands and feet. It wasn’t Blake, it was Grimm… an Ursa. Adam backed away from it as it fell. It was dead at his feet, turning to dust, revealing the figure who took it down, the girl he spoke with last night, Raven, sliding her sword back into her sheath. 

“Adam.” She said, Adam tried to reply but his throat wouldn’t cooperate. The forest came around clearer to him, there was no fire, no ice, no Blake.

“Adam?” Raven repeated. “Hey, are you okay?”

“Y-yeah…” He trailed.

“Looks like it got the jump on you, disarmed you, yeah?”

“Yeah, it… it did.” Adam grimaced, he thought he was done having flashbacks, but maybe that was a little too optimistic.

“Well, glad I was here.” Raven offered her hand to Adam, who paused for a moment before taking it, getting back on his feet.

“Me too…”

“I guess this makes us partners.”

“Partners? Uh… yeah. Yeah, I guess we’re partners now.”

“Come on, grab your weapons, I think I have a lead on where the relics are.”

“Yeah…” Adam took one last look at the dissolving corpse, shuddering as a breath left his lips. “Yeah, okay…”

\---

Winter was knocked back, deflecting a Beowolf's attack with her blade. She grimaced, flicking a trigger on the grip of her sword, launching the parrying sword from the inside of the first blade into her right hand.

“ _ Sloppy.”  _ She thought. “ _ Against this many opponents, I should have begun with the parrying sword out. Whitley would kill me for that. It’s a minor error, one I won’t make again. _ ”

Winter prepped herself, remembering her stance and taking aim at the Beowolf's closest to her with her dominant sword. She took a fleeting glance at Qrow, who had just decapitated a Beowolf's with his weapon in scythe mode. Winter was focusing on Qrow more than she wanted to admit, it was at least his third kill in the early fight, perhaps fourth, and she had yet to kill one. She grimaced, if another student were her partner, she could shake it off. She couldn’t, however, afford to let the fifteen-year-old with a detrimental semblance show her up, not on her first outing at Beacon.

Her brother’s teachings came into her head, she should be focusing on her weapon skill. Her semblance was strong enough as is, and Whitley frequently cautioned her not to rely on it, in the event she was in a desperate situation. She had to improve with her weapons, she knew that and she would.

Just not today.

Winter stabbed her sword into the soft earth of the Emerald Forest as a white glyph appeared a few feet in front of her. White light poured from it as an armored knight began to materialize in front of her, sword in hand. Without a word between the two, the summoned knight charged forward, swinging its blade and cleaving two Grimm in half. Winter smirked, directing it towards two more.

Qrow took a moment to stop his assault as his scythe cut through a Beowolf's. He glanced towards Winter’s summon, pausing for just a second. Qrow took more notice of Winter, kneeling, her focus locked on her knight, which left her nearly defenseless and entirely in the open.

“Winter!” Qrow called, she didn’t respond.

“Winter!” He yelled louder, still ignored.

“Fucking… great!” He glanced at the two Beowolf's to his left, they would have to wait. He slung Harbinger in front of him, charging at a full sprint towards Winter. His semblance wasn’t speed, but he could still move when he was sprinting. He hoped he’d be fast enough.

Qrow jumped, readying his weapon, before he was jerked hard to side, smashing into a tree, a dark figure pinning him to the ground. Qrow glanced up at the Beowolf's, it had been waiting, of course it had, of course. He cursed himself for not expecting it as he blocked the Grimm’s snapping jaws with Harbinger.

Winter raised an eyebrow as Qrow got pinned off to her left, continuing to silently direct her summon. She could help him, but she was curious if this would teach him a lesson, or at least show him his place. She sighed, helping him was probably the right thing to do, so she would, however reluctantly.

Before she could, she felt a sharp force at her back, as her aura flickered around her. She slid and rolled a few feet along the forest floor, glancing back at what just hit her. A Beowolf, the Beowolf that Qrow had been trying to intercept, stood proud where she had been, snarling and snapping in her direction. Winter groaned, she had, perhaps, been too eager to show off, and she failed to check her surroundings. Sloppy, nearly unforgivably so, at least for a Schnee. Winter reached out for her summon, directing it towards the Beowolf that had attacked her.

Winter’s attention was pulled when the Beowolf on top of Qrow was cleaved in half. Qrow was on his feet in seconds, Harbinger in his hands.

“Thanks for the help, Princess.” Qrow scoffed.

“You handled yourself, I was otherwise occupied.” Winter replied, her eyes not leaving the Beowolf.

“Yeah. I see that. Don’t worry.”

“I won’t.”

“This one’s mine.” The two said in unison. Qrow charging towards the Beowolf. Winter shot a glance at her summoned knight, the distance was too great. She’d have to do it herself if she wanted to beat Qrow to it. Winter grimaced, gripping her dominant sword in her left hand and spinning the dust chamber of the weapon. She was a Schnee, she was trained by the absolute best, she could hit this shot. She smirked as fire dust exploded out from the hilt of her sword, aimed center mass of the Beowolf, just high enough to not hit Qrow in the crossfire.

Qrow heard the shot and felt the heat at his back, he knew what was coming, but he also knew Harbinger had reach. If she wanted a competition, she could have one. He extended his weapon as far as his arms would allow. Slinging the blade around the neck of the Grimm and dragging it down as he fell to the ground, tugging hard and ripping through the shadowy form. It fell dead, and he was able to shoot a glance back at Winter, who was red in the face at this point.

The smell of fire filled Qrow’s nostrils as he took a breath in. Something was burning, trees, bushes. His eyes shot to his left, Winter’s shot still had to go somewhere, if Qrow took the Beowolf down himself. Qrow grimaced, yeah, yeah that would happen. He shoulda figured.

“You lit-” Winter started to yell, cut off by the howl of the pack of Grimm, watching the fire spread and backing away.

“Yeah, yeah, yell at me later. We need to move.” Qrow spat, pointing at a path the fire wouldn’t reach before they did. Winter grimaced but moved in stride with him.

\---

“What were you thinking? That should have been simple!” Winter began as she and Qrow entered a clearing of presumed relative safety.

“What was I thinking? What were you thinking? Did using fire not seem like an extremely bad idea?” Qrow shot back,

“Everything would have been fine if you weren’t so desperate to appease your own ego by taking down a target that I clearly had under control.”

“You call getting knocked on your ass under control?”

“It snuck up on me, I had the situation handled.”

“It snuck up on you because you didn’t listen to me! I tried to warn you!”

“Ah yes.” Winter rolled her eyes. “And what a clear warning it was!”

“You know, you may have been trained by the elite of the elite, but you clearly have a lot to learn about teamwork.”

“I have a lot to learn? You’re clearly out of your league. Child.”

“Gah!” Qrow groaned, cleaving a tree in half with Harbinger, Winter proceeded to roll her eyes.

“Yes, very impressive. As long as the only enemies we encounter along the way are trees, we should be fine.”

“Just… keep moving.”

\---

“So, what’s your story anyway?” Roman said, working on knocking tree branches out of his way with his cane.

“My story?” Cinder asked, her hands wrapped firmly around her bow, as she led the pair.

“You know, why a huntress? Why Beacon? Where are you from?”

“Mistral.” She mumbled. “I’m from a small village in Mistral.”

“But why a Huntress?”

“Isn’t that what every child grows up hoping to be?”

“Sure, but a lot of people put that dream away by now. Yet here you are. Why?”

“Why are you so interested in this in particular?” Cinder sighed.

“I’m a curious guy.” Roman shrugged. “And if we’re going to be partners for the rest of our time here, I’d like to get to know you.”

“I suppose…” she trailed. “Well, when I unlocked my aura and semblance, it kind of seemed a waste not to use it for good. Isn’t that… why you’re here?”

“Me? I mean, what can I say?”

A pause that hung over the pair for a moment, Cinder turned and raised an eyebrow at him.

“I… What can you say?” She asked.

“Heh. I grew up on the streets. You kinda had two options: this or crime. Crime sounded… less than appealing and a friend of mine was already going here so… I went with it.”

“I’m sorry… that must have been tough.”

“I’m an orphan, Grimm attack when I was very young. What can you do, right?”

“Oh…” Cinder paused. “I… I’m an orphan too.”

“Well, at least we have something in common.” Roman sighed. “Wish it was something better.”

“I think we both do… Um, anyway. That’s your weapon, right?” Cinder indicated to the gain. “What’s it called?”

“Melodic Cudgel. It’s a cane, gun, grappling hook, uh… thing. I had some help making it.”

“Your friend?”

“Mhm. What about yours?”

“I’ve been calling it Midnight. It’s a bow and swords, but it can have other forms if I want it to. I guess it’s technically whatever I want it to be.”

“You made it out of sand? Right? In that little pouch?”

“Yes, that’s my semblance. I can superheat things.”

“Well, guess I won’t need to get a microwave for the dorm.”

“We’ll see.” Cinder rolled her eyes and smiled slightly. “What about you?”

“Me?”

“Your semblance?”

“Oh.” Roman paused. “That. I don’t have a semblance really. If I do, I don’t know what it is at least.”

“Really? I hate to say I’m surprised, but… well, I’m impressed that you got in here without a semblance.”

“Yeah? Well, I’m impressed too. I guess. Just uh… never activated it.”

“Have you activated your aura?”

“Yes, that I have done.” Roman smiled. “Just… never got around to the semblance. How did you activate yours?”

“That… feels like a story for another time. We should really keep moving.”

“Yeah. Of course!”

“Since you’re good enough that you got in without a semblance, I guess maybe I should be leaning on you for combat then, huh?” Cinder smirked.

“Ha. Well, I guess we’ll see!” Roman laughed, his smirk turning to a nervous smile as Cinder advanced ahead of him. “Well… this is going well…”

\---

Mercury Black entered the clearing, he had yet to find a partner or Grimm, and he wasn’t entirely sure which he was more nervous to run into. Much as he knew he had to branch out beyond Emerald, partnering with her would be so much easier. A rustling shook him from his thoughts. Behind him, low to the ground, slithering.

_ “King Taijitu.”  _ Mercury thought, clicking his boots against the ground, activating Talaria, taking a glance behind him in time to see the serpent slither into the clearing. He smirked, ready.

“No.” A whispered shout came, familiar, Emerald.

“Em?” He whispered back.

“Mhm.” He saw the green-haired girl step into the clearing, her hands raised, focused. She was planning something, using her semblance on the Grimm.

“What are you doing?”

“What I do best.”

“Which is?”

“There.” Emerald indicated to a tree. “Sharp.”

“I…” Mercury’s eyes traced the tree, he saw what she wanted. “Got it.”

Mercury kicked once, firing a burst of hard light from his right boot, and a second from his left. They impacted the tree hard, chopping the top half of it clean off, but in a defined point. The Grimm heard the tree clatter to the ground, recoiling slightly before Emerald was able to make it focus on her illusion again.

“There we go, tasty huntsman-in-training. Go get ‘em.” She whispered, focusing her illusion to mask the pointed fallen tree. The black half of the snake reared up, jamming itself violently into the makeshift spear, causing Emerald to smirk as the white half of the Grimm screeched in pain.

“Mine.” Mercury grumbled, starting to charge before Emerald grabbed him.

“No, I ca-” She started, Mercury bolted from her grip, charging towards where the other half of the tree had fallen. He pulled a sharp branch loose as he kicked the rest of it, forcing it to point upwards, before launching it at the other half of the King Taijitu, slamming into its neck. It hissed, rearing back to strike.

“Yeah! That’s right! Come at me!” Mercury taunted, twirling the branch in his hand. The Grimm went for it, charging and snapping as Mercury sprung to the left, extending the branch and kicking it with force and a boost from the dust in his boots. He smirked as he rolled to a landing, hearing the branch violently explode through the head of the Grimm.

For a moment, he forgot. He forgot that his semblance was forcefully stolen from him, he forgot that his father was an assassin who had raised him to be the same, he forgot that he had killed his own father, and never knew his mother, that he was a “pity project” from Ruby and Salem. For a moment, he got to be the hero, and for that, he was able to smile.

“I had a plan you know?” Emerald came over to him, helping him brush himself off.

“Yeah, well, I did too.” He grumbled.

“It’s not a competition, Merc. We’re supposed to be a team, we’re partners.”

“Yeah? Well, then we should be equal.”

“We are equal.”

“I don’t need you to do everything for me just because you have a semblance.”

“Mercury, I’ve never thought that...”

“I can handle myself!” Mercury raised his voice.

“Who are you trying to convince…?” Emerald remained calm, Mercury lowered his head, sighing gently.

“I’m sorry. You’re right. I’m being ridiculous. You did really well.”

“So did you. You should be proud.”

“Yeah.” Mercury trailed. “Let’s go.”

Mercury led as the pair continued through the clearing and back into the forest, Emerald grimaced slightly. She thought her plan was clever, she thought the more they could avoid combat, the better. But Mercury, as always, wanted to prove himself, even if that wasn’t the easiest option. She wondered, for a moment, if there was ever a time he hadn’t been trying to prove himself, or if a time would ever come where he wouldn’t be.

Regardless, they were partners, and when push came to shove, she wouldn’t trade him for anyone else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that was a long episode to translate. I've been dealing with some emotional and physical health issues, so I appreciate the patience during the break. While the original theme of this episode seemed to be aura, this translated more into, well, semblances. A couple things I'd like to address:
> 
> \- Winter can summon from the start, she is not more powerful than canon Weiss, she's just applied herself differently. She's far better with her semblance, far worse with her swords. I don't want to tell the same story about her learning to summon, just with her in Weiss's place.  
> \- Roman has an aura and some training, even in way over his head. Again, I don't want to tell Jaune's exact story, just with Roman in his place.  
> \- Somewhere along the line of writing this, I realized Roman, Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury are all orphans. I don't have much commentary on that, but... wow.  
> \- I like to think by this point we're seeing a lot more divergence from canon, just following a similar outline.  
> \- Since there seems to be some confusion: The Blake in this chapter is a hallucination. She is not enrolled at Beacon. However, Blake is in Vale, is working with Pyrrha, and will be more frequently appearing. Adam has suffered a lot of trauma around Blake and hallucinations, flashbacks, and night terros have become, sadly, common place for him.
> 
> Hey, I'm also writing another RWBY fanfic, entitled ROUJ. It's a future fic with heavy dystopian themes, featuring a balance of OCs and canon characters. If you like QWAR, I'd really appreciate if you'd check out the first chapter and leave some feedback!


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